Which to use
“poi” and “pole” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #40,426
- “poi” frequency rank
- #12,447
- “pole” frequency rank
- 52873
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | poi | pole |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Plat polynésien de consistance pâteuse à semi-fluide, mélange de plusieurs fruits ou légumes. | Première place au départ d’une course de véhicules motorisés. |
Where the eye mixes poi and pole
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. poi runs 3 letters (CVV) against pole's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses poi with pole
A purely visual mix-up. poi (\pɔj\) and pole (\pɔl\) 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 52873, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
poi is recorded at frequency rank #40,426, classified as anoun, pronounced \pɔj\. pole is at rank #12,447, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pɔl\.
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 52873, this pair ranks #144,668 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of poi vs pole
Shared letters: op. Private to "poi": i. Private to "pole": el.
"poi" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "pole" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- pole ← ople · ploe · poel · polle · ppole
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "poi" and "pole" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "poi" or "pole"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "poi" and "pole" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "poi" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pole" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #144,668 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "poi" and "pole" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pio vs poi". 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 #144,668 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.