pollvsPollenWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“poll” and “Pollen” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#38,341
“poll” frequency rank
#21,389
“Pollen” frequency rank
59730
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature poll Pollen
Definition die Laus Blütenstaub

Where the eye mixes poll and Pollen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

4 ch
poll
6 ch
Pollen

Look-alike desk: poll vs Pollen

A purely visual mix-up. poll ([poʎ]) and Pollen ([ˈpɔlən]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “poll” sits inside “Pollen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59730, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

poll is recorded at frequency rank #38,341, classified as anoun, pronounced [poʎ]. Pollen is at rank #21,389, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈpɔlən].

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 59730, this pair ranks #813,548 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of poll vs Pollen

Shared letters: lop. Private to "poll": -. Private to "Pollen": en.

"poll" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "Pollen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pollopll · plol · ppoll
  • Pollenopllen · plolen · poleln · pollenn · pollne · ppollen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "poll" for "Pollen" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([poʎ] versus [ˈpɔlən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "poll" or "Pollen"?
"Pollen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,389 in our German list, against #38,341 for "poll". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "poll" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Pollen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #813,548 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "poll" and "Pollen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "PoC vs poll". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #813,548 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list