pollovspollosWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#3,435
“pollo” frequency rank
#12,446
“pollos” frequency rank
15881
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pollo pollos
Definition Ejemplar juvenil de un ave, en especial de la gallina. Forma del plural de pollo.

Where the eye mixes pollo and pollos

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

5 ch
pollo
6 ch
pollos

Why the eye confuses pollo with pollos

A purely visual mix-up. pollo ([ˈpoʝo]) 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 extra letter(s) - “pollo” sits inside “pollos”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15881, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pollo is recorded at frequency rank #3,435, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈpoʝo]. 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 15881, this pair ranks #278,416 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of pollo vs pollos

Shared letters: lop. Private to "pollo": -. Private to "pollos": s.

"pollo" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "pollos" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • polloopllo · plolo · polol · ppollo
  • pollosopllos · plolos · polloss · pollso · polols · ppollos

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "pollo" for "pollos" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈpoʝo] versus [ˈpoʝos]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "pollo" or "pollos" show up more?
"pollo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,435 in our Spanish list, against #12,446 for "pollos". 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 "pollo" 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 #278,416 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pollo" and "pollos" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pollos vs pómulos". 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 #278,416 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