Which to use
“plied” and “polled” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #49,557
- “plied” frequency rank
- #21,621
- “polled” frequency rank
- 71178
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | plied | polled |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of ply | simple past and past participle of poll |
Where the eye mixes plied and polled
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between plied and polled
A purely visual mix-up. plied (/plaɪd/) and polled (/pəʊld/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 71178, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
plied is recorded at frequency rank #49,557, classified as averb, pronounced /plaɪd/. polled is at rank #21,621, tagged as averb, pronounced /pəʊld/.
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 71178, this pair ranks #47,710 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of plied vs polled
Shared letters: delp. Private to "plied": i. Private to "polled": o.
"plied" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC · "polled" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "plied" and "polled" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "plied" vs "polled" - which ranks higher?
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 "plied" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "polled" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #47,710 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "plied" and "polled" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "piet vs plied". 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 #47,710 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.