I'm fond of polis, which we do use as part of words like metropolis but not on its own. It's the word for the Greek city-state but also means the citizens or social fabric.
It's why we have the two sayings "Man is a political animal" and "Man is a social creature." They are different translations of the idea that "Man is a creature of the polis."
I also would think they are pronounced differently, but a quick Google isn't clarifying how polis is pronounced and my two classes of classical Greek taken eons ago aren't sufficient background for me to be confident about my pronunciation of the word.
If anyone could cast light on the pronunciation of polis, that would be cool.
I thought the stress would be on the first syllable.
I also thought this means the second syllable should be a short i, consistent with how we pronounce metropolis.
Because police stresses the second syllable, it sounds like ee not a short i. So I didn't readily make the connection between the two words in part because they are spelled different and in part because I don't think they sound alike.
It's why we have the two sayings "Man is a political animal" and "Man is a social creature." They are different translations of the idea that "Man is a creature of the polis."