pollovspolosTell them apart

Which to use

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

#3,435
“pollo” frequency rank
#16,180
“polos” frequency rank
19615
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

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

Where the eye mixes pollo and polos

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

5 ch
pollo
5 ch
polos

Look-alike desk: pollo vs polos

A purely visual mix-up. pollo ([ˈpoʝo]) and polos ([ˈpolos]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19615, 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]. polos is at rank #16,180, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈpolos].

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 19615, this pair ranks #262,983 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of pollo vs polos

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

"pollo" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "polos" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • polloopllo · plolo · polol · ppollo
  • polosoplos · ploos · poloss · polso · pools · ppolos

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "pollo" for "polos" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈpoʝo] versus [ˈpolos]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "pollo" or "polos" show up more?
"pollo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,435 in our Spanish list, against #16,180 for "polos". 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 "pollo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "polos" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #262,983 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pollo" and "polos" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "polos 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 #262,983 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