pollvspomWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#3,969
“poll” frequency rank
#23,363
“pom” frequency rank
27332
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature poll pom
Definition A survey of people, usually statistically analyzed to gauge wider public opinion. An Englishman; a Briton; a person of British descent.

Where the eye mixes poll and pom

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

4 ch
poll
3 ch
pom

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. poll (/pɔl/) and pom (/pɒm/) 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 27332, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

poll is recorded at frequency rank #3,969, classified as anoun, pronounced /pɔl/. pom is at rank #23,363, tagged as anoun, pronounced /pɒm/.

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 27332, this pair ranks #379,780 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of poll vs pom

Shared letters: op. Private to "poll": l. Private to "pom": m.

"poll" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "pom" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pollopll · plol · ppoll

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "poll" and "pom" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/pɔl/ versus /pɒm/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "poll" or "pom"?
"poll" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,969 in our English list, against #23,363 for "pom". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "poll" and "pom". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "poll" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pom" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #379,780 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "poll" and "pom" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pom vs PPA". 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

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list