Poll vs. Pool — What's the Difference?
By Tayyaba Rehman — Updated on December 22, 2023
Poll refers to a voting process or survey, while Pool can mean a small body of water or a collective sharing of resources.
Difference Between Poll and Pool
Table of Contents
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Key Differences
Poll is primarily associated with voting or gathering opinions through a survey. Pool commonly refers to a body of still water, typically man-made for swimming.
Poll is used in political, social, and research contexts to denote surveys or voting. Pool is used in recreational, financial, and resource-sharing contexts, like swimming pools or car pools.
Poll can be both a noun (a voting process) and a verb (to take a poll). Pool also serves as both a noun (a swimming pool) and a verb (to pool resources).
Poll is linked with activities like voting, surveying, and opinion gathering. Pool is associated with swimming, resource sharing, and collective effort.
Poll can be used figuratively to refer to the head or a type of haircut. Pool can metaphorically refer to a combination or accumulation of things, like a talent pool.
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Comparison Chart
Definition
A process of voting or surveying
A small body of water or collective sharing
Usage
Political, social, research contexts
Recreational, financial, resource-sharing contexts
Forms
Both a noun and a verb
Both a noun and a verb
Associated Activities
Voting, surveying, opinion gathering
Swimming, resource sharing, collective efforts
Figurative Use
Head, haircut
Accumulation or combination of resources or talents
Compare with Definitions
Poll
Voting Process: A poll is a process of voting in an election or survey.
She participated in the poll to choose the new school mascot.
Pool
Swimming Facility: A pool is a structure filled with water for swimming.
The kids spent all afternoon playing in the swimming pool.
Poll
Survey of Opinions: A poll is a survey to gauge public opinion.
The poll showed increasing support for environmental policies.
Pool
Collective Sharing of Resources: Pooling refers to the collective sharing of assets or resources.
They created a car pool to save on commuting costs.
Poll
Counting Votes: Polling can refer to the process of counting votes.
Officials were busy with the poll as election day ended.
Pool
Joint Contribution: A pool can be a joint contribution of money for a common purpose.
They put money into a pool to buy a group gift.
Poll
The places where votes are cast and registered during an election, considered as a group
The polls close in this state at 8:00.
Pool
Pooling of Talent or Effort: Pool can refer to a collective group of people with a shared skill.
The company has a large talent pool to draw from.
Poll
Market Research Tool: A poll is used for market research to understand consumer preferences.
The company conducted a poll to determine the most popular product.
Pool
Stagnant Body of Water: A pool can be a small, still body of water in nature.
Frogs were jumping into the small rock pool.
Poll
Head or Top Part: Historically, poll referred to the head or a type of haircut.
He had a clean poll, having just gotten a haircut.
Pool
A small body of still water.
Poll
The casting and registering of votes in an election.
Pool
An accumulation of standing liquid; a puddle
A pool of blood.
Poll
The number of votes cast or recorded.
Pool
A deep or still place in a stream.
Poll
A place where votes are cast and registered
I went to the polls before work to cast a vote.
Pool
A swimming pool.
Poll
A survey of the public or of a sample of public opinion to acquire information.
Pool
An underground accumulation of petroleum or gas in porous sedimentary rock.
Poll
The head, especially the top of the head where hair grows.
Pool
A game of chance, resembling a lottery, in which the contestants put staked money into a common fund that is later paid to the winner.
Poll
The blunt or broad end of a tool such as a hammer or axe.
Pool
A fund containing all the money bet in a game of chance or on the outcome of an event.
Poll
To receive (a given number of votes).
Pool
A supply, as of vehicles or workers, available for use by a group.
Poll
To receive or record the votes of
Polling a jury.
Pool
A group of journalists who cover an event and then by agreement share their reports with participating news media
The White House press pool.
Poll
To cast (a vote or ballot).
Pool
A mutual fund established by a group of stockholders for speculating in or manipulating prices of securities.
Poll
To question in a survey; canvass.
Pool
The persons or parties participating in such a fund.
Poll
To cut off or trim (hair, horns, or wool, for example); clip.
Pool
A grouping of assets, such as mortgages, that serves as a basis for the issuing of securities.
Poll
To trim or cut off the hair, wool, branches, or horns of
Polled the sheep.
Polled the trees.
Pool
An agreement between competing business concerns to establish controls over production, market, and prices for common profit.
Poll
To vote at the polls in an election.
Pool
Any of several games played on a six-pocket billiards table usually with 15 object balls and a cue ball. Also called pocket billiards.
Poll
A survey of people, usually statistically analyzed to gauge wider public opinion.
Pool
To form pools or a pool
The receding tide pooled in hollows along the shore.
Poll
A formal vote held in order to ascertain the most popular choice.
The student council had a poll to see what people want served in the cafeteria.
Pool
To accumulate in a body part
Preventing blood from pooling in the limbs.
Poll
A polling place
The polls close at 8 p.m.
Pool
To put into a pool, as for common use
Let's pool our resources to finish the project quickly.
Poll
The result of the voting, the total number of votes recorded. can "poll" also have another sense synonymous with "electoral register"?
Pool
To join or form a pool.
Poll
The head, particularly the scalp or pate upon which hair (normally) grows.
Pool
A small and rather deep area of (usually) fresh water, as one supplied by a spring, or occurring in the course of a stream or river; a reservoir for water.
The pools of Solomon
Poll
(in extended senses of the above) A mass of people, a mob or muster, considered as a head count.
Pool
Any small body of standing or stagnant water; a puddle.
Poll
The broad or butt end of an axe or a hammer.
Pool
Ellipsis of swimming pool
Poll
The pollard or European chub, a kind of fish.
Pool
A supply of resources.
There is a limited pool of candidates from which to choose the new manager.
Dating pool
Poll
A pet parrot.
Pool
A set of resources that are kept ready to use.
Poll
One who does not try for honors at university, but is content to take a degree merely; a passman.
Pool
A small amount of liquid on a surface.
A pool of blood
Poll
(transitive) To take, record the votes of (an electorate).
Pool
A localized glow of light.
Poll
(transitive) To solicit mock votes from (a person or group).
Pool
A game at billiards, in which each of the players stakes a certain sum, the winner taking the whole; also, in public billiard rooms, a game in which the loser pays the entrance fee for all who engage in the game.
Poll
(intransitive) To vote at an election.
Pool
(sport) A cue sport played on a pool table. There are 15 balls, 7 of one colour, 7 of another, and the black ball (also called the 8 ball). A player must pocket all their own colour balls and then the black ball in order to win.
Poll
To register or deposit, as a vote; to elicit or call forth, as votes or voters.
He polled a hundred votes more than his opponent.
Pool
In rifle shooting, a contest in which each competitor pays a certain sum for every shot he makes, the net proceeds being divided among the winners.
Poll
To cut off; to remove by clipping, shearing, etc.; to mow or crop.
To poll the hair; to poll wool; to poll grass
Pool
(fencing) A group of fencers taking part in a competition.
Poll
(transitive) To cut the hair of (a creature).
Pool
Any gambling or commercial venture in which several persons join.
Poll
(transitive) To remove the horns of (an animal).
Pool
The stake played for in certain games of cards, billiards, etc.; an aggregated stake to which each player has contributed a share; also, the receptacle for the stakes.
Poll
To remove the top or end of; to clip; to lop.
To poll a tree
Pool
A combination of persons contributing money to be used for the purpose of increasing or depressing the market price of stocks, grain, or other commodities; also, the aggregate of the sums so contributed.
The pool took all the wheat offered below the limit.
He put $10,000 into the pool.
Poll
To (repeatedly) request the status of something (such as a computer or printer on a network).
The network hub polled the department’s computers to determine which ones could still respond.
Pool
A set of players in quadrille etc.
Poll
To be judged in a poll.
Pool
(rail transport) A mutual arrangement between competing lines, by which the receipts of all are aggregated, and then distributed pro rata according to agreement.
Poll
(obsolete) To extort from; to plunder; to strip.
Pool
(legal) An aggregation of properties or rights, belonging to different people in a community, in a common fund, to be charged with common liabilities.
Poll
To impose a tax upon.
Pool
To form a pool.
Poll
To pay as one's personal tax.
Pool
(transitive) To put together; contribute to a common fund, on the basis of a mutual division of profits or losses; to make a common interest of.
We must pool our resources.
Poll
To enter, as polls or persons, in a list or register; to enroll, especially for purposes of taxation; to enumerate one by one.
Pool
(intransitive) To combine or contribute with others, as for a commercial, speculative, or gambling transaction.
Poll
(legal) To cut or shave smooth or even; to cut in a straight line without indentation
A polled deed
Pool
A small and rather deep collection of (usually) fresh water, as one supplied by a spring, or occurring in the course of a stream; a reservoir for water; as, the pools of Solomon.
Charity will hardly water the ground where it must first fill a pool.
The sleepy pool above the dam.
Poll
(of kinds of livestock which typically have horns) Bred without horns, and thus hornless.
Poll Hereford
Red Poll cows
Pool
A small body of standing or stagnant water; a puddle.
Poll
A parrot; - familiarly so called.
Pool
The stake played for in certain games of cards, billiards, etc.; an aggregated stake to which each player has contributed a snare; also, the receptacle for the stakes.
Poll
One who does not try for honors, but is content to take a degree merely; a passman.
Pool
A game at billiards, in which each of the players stakes a certain sum, the winner taking the whole; also, in public billiard rooms, a game in which the loser pays the entrance fee for all who engage in the game; a game of skill in pocketing the balls on a pool table.
He plays pool at the billiard houses.
Poll
The head; the back part of the head.
Pool
In rifle shooting, a contest in which each competitor pays a certain sum for every shot he makes, the net proceeds being divided among the winners.
Poll
A number or aggregate of heads; a list or register of heads or individuals.
We are the greater poll, and in true fearThey gave us our demands.
The muster file, rotten and sound, upon my life, amounts not to fifteen thousand poll.
Pool
Any gambling or commercial venture in which several persons join.
Poll
Specifically, the register of the names of electors who may vote in an election.
Pool
A combination of persons contributing money to be used for the purpose of increasing or depressing the market price of stocks, grain, or other commodities; also, the aggregate of the sums so contributed; as, the pool took all the wheat offered below the limit; he put $10,000 into the pool.
Poll
The casting or recording of the votes of registered electors; as, the close of the poll.
All soldiers quartered in place are to remove . . . and not to return till one day after the poll is ended.
Pool
A mutual arrangement between competing lines, by which the receipts of all are aggregated, and then distributed pro rata according to agreement.
Poll
The place where the votes are cast or recorded; as, to go to the polls.
Pool
An aggregation of properties or rights, belonging to different people in a community, in a common fund, to be charged with common liabilities.
Poll
The broad end of a hammer; the but of an ax.
Pool
To put together; to contribute to a common fund, on the basis of a mutual division of profits or losses; to make a common interest of; as, the companies pooled their traffic.
Finally, it favors the poolingof all issues.
Poll
The European chub. See Pollard, 3 (a).
Pool
To combine or contribute with others, as for a commercial, speculative, or gambling transaction.
Poll
To remove the poll or head of; hence, to remove the top or end of; to clip; to lop; to shear; as, to poll the head; to poll a tree.
When he [Absalom] pollled his head.
His death did so grieve them that they polled themselves; they clipped off their horse and mule's hairs.
Pool
An excavation that is (usually) filled with water
Poll
To cut off; to remove by clipping, shearing, etc.; to mow or crop; - sometimes with off; as, to poll the hair; to poll wool; to poll grass.
Who, as he polled off his dart's head, so sure he had decreedThat all the counsels of their war he would poll off like it.
Pool
A small lake;
The pond was too small for sailing
Poll
To extort from; to plunder; to strip.
Which polls and pills the poor in piteous wise.
Pool
An organization of people or resources that can be shared;
A car pool
A secretarial pool
When he was first hired he was assigned to the pool
Poll
To impose a tax upon.
Pool
An association of companies for some definite purpose
Poll
To pay as one's personal tax.
The man that polled but twelve pence for his head.
Pool
Any communal combination of funds;
Everyone contributed to the pool
Poll
To enter, as polls or persons, in a list or register; to enroll, esp. for purposes of taxation; to enumerate one by one.
Polling the reformed churches whether they equalize in number those of his three kingdoms.
Pool
A small body of standing water (rainwater) or other liquid;
There were puddles of muddy water in the road after the rain
The body lay in a pool of blood
Poll
To register or deposit, as a vote; to elicit or call forth, as votes or voters; as, he polled a hundred votes more than his opponent.
And poll for points of faith his trusty vote.
Pool
The combined stakes of the betters
Poll
To cut or shave smooth or even; to cut in a straight line without indentation; as, a polled deed. See Dee poll.
Pool
Something resembling a pool of liquid;
He stood in a pool of light
His chair sat in a puddle of books and magazines
Poll
To vote at an election.
Pool
Any of various games played on a pool table having 6 pockets
Poll
An inquiry into public opinion conducted by interviewing a random sample of people
Pool
Combine into a common fund;
We pooled resources
Poll
The top of the head
Pool
Join or form a pool of people
Poll
The part of the head between the ears
Poll
A tame parrot
Poll
The counting of votes (as in an election)
Poll
Get the opinions (of people) by asking specific questions
Poll
Vote in an election at a polling station
Poll
Get the votes of
Poll
Convert into a pollard;
Pollard trees
Common Curiosities
Can "pool" be a verb?
Yes, "to pool" means to combine resources or efforts collectively.
How is "poll" used in a political context?
In politics, "poll" refers to voting processes or surveys to gauge public opinion.
Are online surveys considered polls?
Yes, online surveys are a form of polling.
Do polls always need a large sample size?
Not necessarily; the size can vary based on the poll's purpose.
Does "pool" have a financial context?
Yes, in finance, pooling refers to combining funds or resources.
Can "poll" mean something other than surveying?
Historically, "poll" referred to the head or a haircut, but it's rarely used in this sense now.
Is "pool" always related to water?
No, "pool" can also refer to collective sharing, like pooling money or resources.
Does "pool" imply a specific size of water body?
Generally, "pool" implies a smaller body of water, especially man-made.
Can "poll" be informal?
Yes, informal polls, like straw polls, are common.
Are car pools related to swimming pools?
No, car pools refer to sharing rides, not related to swimming pools.
Do polls always predict accurate results?
Polls are predictive tools but are not always 100% accurate.
Is a talent pool about water?
No, a talent pool refers to a group of skilled individuals.
Is exit polling a type of poll?
Yes, exit polls survey voters immediately after they've voted.
Can "poll" be used for market research?
Yes, polls are often used to understand consumer preferences in market research.
Can "pool" mean combining efforts?
Yes, "pooling efforts" means working together for a common goal.
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Written by
Tayyaba RehmanTayyaba Rehman is a distinguished writer, currently serving as a primary contributor to askdifference.com. As a researcher in semantics and etymology, Tayyaba's passion for the complexity of languages and their distinctions has found a perfect home on the platform. Tayyaba delves into the intricacies of language, distinguishing between commonly confused words and phrases, thereby providing clarity for readers worldwide.
