Can I name a variable with the same name as a typedef'd structure name?

Question

Here is the structure declare code.

struct list_el {
    int val;
    struct list_el * next;
};

typedef struct list_el item;

And when I

Answer 1

typedef is not completely same as #define

Here is the difference by example:

#define cptr1 char*

typedef char* cptr2;

In code:

           int main()
            {
             cptr1 c1,c2; // first case : 
        // here c1 will be pointer to char but c2 is only char as cptr 
   // is directly replaced by char* by preprocessor
            cptr2 c3,c4; // second case :
      // here c3 and c4 both are pointers to char 
            }