KontrolleurvsKontrolleureWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“Kontrolleur” and “Kontrolleure” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#49,839
“Kontrolleur” frequency rank
#33,680
“Kontrolleure” frequency rank
83519
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Kontrolleur Kontrolleure
Definition Person, die beruflich Kontrollen/Überprüfungen durchführt Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Kontrolleur

Where the eye mixes Kontrolleur and Kontrolleure

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 11 letters in sequence. Kontrolleur runs 11 letters (CVCCCVCCVVC) against Kontrolleure's 12 (CVCCCVCCVVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

11 ch
Kontrolleur
12 ch
Kontrolleure

Why the eye confuses Kontrolleur with Kontrolleure

A purely visual mix-up. Kontrolleur ([kɔntʁɔˈløːɐ̯]) and Kontrolleure ([kɔntʁɔˈløːʁə]) 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 extra letter(s) - “Kontrolleur” sits inside “Kontrolleure”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 83519, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Kontrolleur is recorded at frequency rank #49,839, classified as anoun, pronounced [kɔntʁɔˈløːɐ̯]. Kontrolleure is at rank #33,680, tagged as anoun, pronounced [kɔntʁɔˈløːʁə].

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 83519, this pair ranks #138,565 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Kontrolleur vs Kontrolleure

Shared letters: eklnortu. Private to "Kontrolleur": -. Private to "Kontrolleure": -.

"Kontrolleur" · 11 letters · shape CVCCCVCCVVC  ·  "Kontrolleure" · 12 letters · shape CVCCCVCCVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Kontrolleur ← kkontrolleur · knotrolleur · konntrolleur · konrtolleur · kontorlleur · kontrloleur · kontrolelur · kontroleur
  • Kontrolleure ← kkontrolleure · knotrolleure · konntrolleure · konrtolleure · kontorlleure · kontrloleure · kontrolelure · kontroleure

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Kontrolleur" for "Kontrolleure" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([kɔntʁɔˈløːɐ̯] versus [kɔntʁɔˈløːʁə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Kontrolleur" or "Kontrolleure"?
"Kontrolleure" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #33,680 in our German list, against #49,839 for "Kontrolleur". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "Kontrolleur" and "Kontrolleure" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Kontrolleur" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Kontrolleure" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #138,565 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Kontrolleur" and "Kontrolleure" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Kontrollen vs Kontrolleur". 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 #138,565 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list