PolvspouWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: Pol is a name, pou is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Pol” is a name and “pou” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#12,222
“Pol” frequency rank
#26,185
“pou” frequency rank
38407
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Pol pou
Definition Apellido. Pozo.

Where the eye mixes Pol and pou

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

3 ch
Pol
3 ch
pou

Visual trap between Pol and pou

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Pol is [ˈpol] while pou is [pow]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - l in “Pol” becomes u in “pou”, and the parts of speech differ too (name vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38407, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Pol is recorded at frequency rank #12,222, classified as aname, pronounced [ˈpol]. pou is at rank #26,185, tagged as anoun, pronounced [pow].

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 38407, this pair ranks #170,200 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Pol vs pou

Shared letters: op. Private to "Pol": l. Private to "pou": u.

"Pol" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "pou" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Pol" for "pou" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Pol" is a name and "pou" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Pol" vs "pou" - which ranks higher?
"Pol" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,222 in our Spanish list, against #26,185 for "pou". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "Pol" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pou" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #170,200 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Pol" and "pou" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pou vs PRC". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #170,200 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