Which to use
“polled” and “pulsed” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #21,621
- “polled” frequency rank
- #35,470
- “pulsed” frequency rank
- 57091
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | polled | pulsed |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of poll | simple past and past participle of pulse |
Where the eye mixes polled and pulsed
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses polled with pulsed
A purely visual mix-up. polled (/pəʊld/) and pulsed (/pʌlst/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57091, 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/. pulsed is at rank #35,470, tagged as averb, pronounced /pʌlst/.
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 57091, this pair ranks #121,683 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of polled vs pulsed
Shared letters: delp. Private to "polled": o. Private to "pulsed": su.
"polled" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "pulsed" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "polled" for "pulsed" ever safe?
Which is more common, "polled" or "pulsed"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "polled" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pulsed" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #121,683 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "polled" and "pulsed" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "plied vs pulsed". 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 #121,683 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.