Which to use
“Pollard” is a name and “polled” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #21,620
- “Pollard” frequency rank
- #21,621
- “polled” frequency rank
- 43241
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Pollard | polled |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A surname transferred from the nickname. | simple past and past participle of poll |
Where the eye mixes Pollard and polled
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses Pollard with polled
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Pollard is /ˈpɒl.əd/ while polled is /pəʊld/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (name vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43241, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Pollard is recorded at frequency rank #21,620, classified as aname, pronounced /ˈpɒl.əd/. 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 43241, this pair ranks #241,869 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of Pollard vs polled
Shared letters: dlop. Private to "Pollard": ar. Private to "polled": e.
"Pollard" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC · "polled" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "Pollard" and "polled" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "Pollard" vs "polled" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "Pollard" and "polled" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "Pollard" 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 #241,869 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Pollard" and "polled" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "plied vs polled". 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 #241,869 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.