# pool

> English word · Noun · IPA /puːl/ · frequency rank #2,171

## Definitions
1. A small and rather deep area of (usually) fresh water, as one supplied by a spring, or occurring in the course of a stream or river; a reservoir for water.
2. Any small body of standing or stagnant water; a puddle.
3. Ellipsis of swimming pool.
4. A set of resources that are kept ready to use.
5. Any group of like things.
6. A small amount of liquid on a surface.
7. A localized glow of light.

## Etymology
From Middle English pool, pole, pol, from Old English pōl (“pool”), from Proto-West Germanic pōl, from Proto-Germanic *pōlaz (“pool, pond”), from Proto-Indo-European *bōlos (“bog, marsh”).
Cognate with Scots puil (“pool”), Saterland Frisian Pol (“pool”), West Frisian poel (“pool”), Dutch poel (“pool”), German Low German Pohl, Pool, Pul (“pool”), German Pfuhl (“quagmire, mudhole”), Danish pøl (“puddle”), Swedish pöl (“puddle, pool”), Icelandic pollur (“puddle”), Lithuanian bala (“puddle”), Latvian bala (“a muddly, treeless depression”), Russian боло́то (bolóto, “swamp, bog, marsh”).
For the meaning development to a supply of resources compare typologically Russian пруд пруди́ (prud prudí) (< пруд (prud)).

## Easily confused with
- **pro** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pool-vs-pro)
- **pop** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pool-vs-pop)
- **pot** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pool-vs-pot)
- **pos** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pool-vs-pos)
- **ppl** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pool-vs-ppl)
- **POW** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pool-vs-pow)
- **POV** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pool-vs-pov)
- **pox** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pool-vs-pox)
- **PTO** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pool-vs-pto)
- **PSL** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pool-vs-psl)
- **post** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pool-vs-post)
- **poor** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pool-vs-poor)
- **pull** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pool-vs-pull)
- **port** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pool-vs-port)
- **porn** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pool-vs-porn)
- **pope** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pool-vs-pope)
- **pose** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pool-vs-pose)
- **pour** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pool-vs-pour)
- **pork** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pool-vs-pork)
- **pops** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pool-vs-pops)

## Common misspellings (3)
`opol`, `pooll`, `ppool`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/pool