pollvsPultConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#38,341
“poll” frequency rank
#30,248
“Pult” frequency rank
68589
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature poll Pult
Definition die Laus Tisch mit schräger Fläche oder schräger Aufsatz für einen Tisch, auf dem geschrieben und gelesen wird

Where the eye mixes poll and Pult

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
poll
4 ch
Pult

Why the eye confuses poll with Pult

A purely visual mix-up. poll ([poʎ]) and Pult ([pʊlt]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 68589, 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]. Pult is at rank #30,248, tagged as anoun, pronounced [pʊlt].

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 68589, this pair ranks #503,056 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of poll vs Pult

Shared letters: lp. Private to "poll": o. Private to "Pult": tu.

"poll" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "Pult" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pollopll · plol · ppoll
  • Pultplut · ppult · pullt · pultt · putl · uplt

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "poll" for "Pult" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([poʎ] versus [pʊlt]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "poll" or "Pult" show up more?
"Pult" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #30,248 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 "Pult" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #503,056 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "poll" and "Pult" 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 #503,056 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