polisvspollosTell them apart

Which to use

“polis” and “pollos” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#21,440
“polis” frequency rank
#12,446
“pollos” frequency rank
33886
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature polis pollos
Definition Denominación dada a las ciudades-estado independientes de la antigua Grecia, surgidas en la Edad Oscura mediante un proceso de agregación de núcleos y grupos de población (anteriormente vinculados por el oikos o casa) denominado sinecismo. Forma del plural de pollo.

Where the eye mixes polis and pollos

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

5 ch
polis
6 ch
pollos

Look-alike desk: polis vs pollos

A purely visual mix-up. polis ([ˈpolis]) and pollos ([ˈpoʝos]) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33886, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

polis is recorded at frequency rank #21,440, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈpolis]. pollos is at rank #12,446, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈpoʝos].

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 33886, this pair ranks #194,368 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of polis vs pollos

Shared letters: lops. Private to "polis": i. Private to "pollos": -.

"polis" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "pollos" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • polisoplis · plois · poils · poliss · pollis · polsi · ppolis
  • pollosopllos · plolos · polloss · pollso · polols · ppollos

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "polis" and "pollos" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈpolis] versus [ˈpoʝos]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "polis" or "pollos" show up more?
"pollos" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,446 in our Spanish list, against #21,440 for "polis". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "polis" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pollos" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #194,368 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "polis" and "pollos" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "polis vs ponías". 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 #194,368 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