pochovspolloWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: pocho is a adjective, pollo is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“pocho” is an adjective and “pollo” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#37,263
“pocho” frequency rank
#3,435
“pollo” frequency rank
40698
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pocho pollo
Definition Dicho de la fruta, que se ha sobremadurado o que ya está podrida. Ejemplar juvenil de un ave, en especial de la gallina.

Where the eye mixes pocho and pollo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
pocho
5 ch
pollo

Visual trap between pocho and pollo

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: pocho is [ˈpot͡ʃo] while pollo is [ˈpoʝo]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40698, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pocho is recorded at frequency rank #37,263, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈpot͡ʃo]. pollo is at rank #3,435, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈpoʝo].

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 40698, this pair ranks #157,694 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pocho vs pollo

Shared letters: op. Private to "pocho": ch. Private to "pollo": l.

"pocho" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "pollo" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pochoopcho · pcoho · poccho · pochho · pocoh · pohco · ppocho
  • polloopllo · plolo · polol · ppollo

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "pocho" and "pollo" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "pocho" is an adjective and "pollo" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "pocho" or "pollo"?
"pollo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,435 in our Spanish list, against #37,263 for "pocho". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "pocho" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pollo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #157,694 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pocho" and "pollo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pocho vs Pombo". 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 #157,694 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list