Which to use
“polices” and “policy” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #42,829
- “polices” frequency rank
- #699
- “policy” frequency rank
- 43528
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | polices | policy |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of police (“police officer”) | A principle of behaviour, conduct which an entity (government, organization, etc.) applies or seeks to follow, especially as formally expressed by an authoritative body. |
Where the eye mixes polices and policy
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. polices runs 7 letters (CVCVCVC) against policy's 6 (CVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: polices vs policy
A purely visual mix-up. polices (/pəˈliːsɪz/) and policy (/ˈpɒl.ə.si/) 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 43528, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
polices is recorded at frequency rank #42,829, classified as anoun, pronounced /pəˈliːsɪz/. policy is at rank #699, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈpɒl.ə.si/.
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 43528, this pair ranks #239,173 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of polices vs policy
Shared letters: cilop. Private to "polices": es. Private to "policy": y.
"polices" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC · "policy" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "polices" and "policy" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "polices" or "policy"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "polices" and "policy" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "polices" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "policy" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #239,173 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "polices" and "policy" 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 #239,173 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.