Which to use
“polled” is a verb and “polluted” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #21,621
- “polled” frequency rank
- #19,168
- “polluted” frequency rank
- 40789
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | polled | polluted |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of poll | Made unclean or impure. |
Letter map: polled vs polluted
Shared letters muted; letters that set polled and polluted apart highlighted. Shared run: 6.
Grammar separator: polled vs polluted
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: polled is averb and pollutedanadjective. On the page they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40789, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
polled is recorded at frequency rank #21,621, classified as averb, pronounced /pəʊld/. polluted is at rank #19,168, tagged as anadj.
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 40789, this pair ranks #264,373 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of polled vs polluted
Shared letters: delop. Private to "polled": -. Private to "polluted": tu.
"polled" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "polluted" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "polled" and "polluted" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "polled" or "polluted"?
Useful next steps
Pair "polled" vs "polluted" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "polled" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "polluted" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #264,373 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "polled" and "polluted" 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 #264,373 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.