pooledvsprovedConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#29,792
“pooled” frequency rank
#3,126
“proved” frequency rank
32918
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pooled proved
Definition simple past and past participle of pool simple past and past participle of prove

Where the eye mixes pooled and proved

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
pooled
6 ch
proved

Look-alike desk: pooled vs proved

A purely visual mix-up. pooled (/puːld/) and proved (/ˈpɹuːvd/) 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 32918, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pooled is recorded at frequency rank #29,792, classified as averb, pronounced /puːld/. proved is at rank #3,126, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈpɹuːvd/.

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 32918, this pair ranks #333,801 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pooled vs proved

Shared letters: deop. Private to "pooled": l. Private to "proved": rv.

"pooled" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "proved" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pooledopoled · poloed · pooeld · pooledd · poolled · ppooled
  • provedporved · pproved · proevd · provde · provedd · provved · prroved · prvoed

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "pooled" and "proved" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/puːld/ versus /ˈpɹuːvd/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "pooled" vs "proved" - which ranks higher?
"proved" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,126 in our English list, against #29,792 for "pooled". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "pooled" and "proved" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "pooled" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "proved" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #333,801 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pooled" and "proved" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pooled vs pooper". 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 #333,801 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list