Which to use
“pole” and “police” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #26,963
- “pole” frequency rank
- #32,809
- “police” frequency rank
- 59772
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pole | police |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | En automovilismo y motociclismo, primer lugar de salida en una carrera. | Policía. |
Where the eye mixes pole and police
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. pole runs 4 letters (CVCV) against police's 6 (CVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses pole with police
A purely visual mix-up. pole ([ˈpole]) and police (/pəˈliːs/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59772, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pole is recorded at frequency rank #26,963, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈpole]. police is at rank #32,809, tagged as anoun, pronounced /pəˈliːs/.
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 59772, this pair ranks #61,390 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of pole vs police
Shared letters: elop. Private to "pole": -. Private to "police": ci.
"pole" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "police" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "pole" for "police" ever safe?
Frequency check: "pole" vs "police" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "pole" and "police" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "pole" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "police" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #61,390 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pole" and "police" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pole vs pom". 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 #61,390 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.