Which to use
“poles” and “polices” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #8,591
- “poles” frequency rank
- #42,829
- “polices” frequency rank
- 51420
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | poles | polices |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of pole | plural of police (“police officer”) |
Where the eye mixes poles and polices
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. poles runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against polices's 7 (CVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses poles with polices
A purely visual mix-up. poles (/pəʊlz/) and polices (/pəˈliːsɪz/) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51420, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
poles is recorded at frequency rank #8,591, classified as anoun, pronounced /pəʊlz/. polices is at rank #42,829, tagged as anoun, pronounced /pəˈliːsɪz/.
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 51420, this pair ranks #165,690 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of poles vs polices
Shared letters: elops. Private to "poles": -. Private to "polices": ci.
"poles" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "polices" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "poles" for "polices" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "poles" or "polices" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "poles" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "polices" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #165,690 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "poles" and "polices" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "plies vs polices". 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 #165,690 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.