Which to use
“poil” and “polio” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #4,432
- “poil” frequency rank
- #35,647
- “polio” frequency rank
- 40079
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | poil | polio |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Filet délié qui croît sur la peau de la plupart des mammifères et à certains endroits du corps humain. | Poliomyélite. |
Where the eye mixes poil and polio
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. poil runs 4 letters (CVVC) against polio's 5 (CVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between poil and polio
A purely visual mix-up. poil (\pwal\) and polio (\pɔ.ljo\) 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 40079, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
poil is recorded at frequency rank #4,432, classified as anoun, pronounced \pwal\. polio is at rank #35,647, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pɔ.ljo\.
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 40079, this pair ranks #243,203 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of poil vs polio
Shared letters: ilop. Private to "poil": -. Private to "polio": -.
"poil" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "polio" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "poil" and "polio" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "poil" or "polio"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "poil" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "polio" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #243,203 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "poil" and "polio" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "polio vs pouliot". 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 #243,203 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.