Which to use
“kontrollieren” is a verb and “kontrollierte” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #4,133
- “kontrollieren” frequency rank
- #14,846
- “kontrollierte” frequency rank
- 18979
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | kontrollieren | kontrollierte |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | eine Person oder Sache daraufhin untersuchen, ob bei ihr bestimmte Kriterien, Anforderungen erfüllt sind | Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs kontrolliert |
Where the eye mixes kontrollieren and kontrollierte
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 12 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: kontrollieren vs kontrollierte
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: kontrollieren is [kɔntʁɔˈliːʁən] while kontrollierte is [kɔntʁɔˈliːɐ̯tə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18979, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
kontrollieren is recorded at frequency rank #4,133, classified as averb, pronounced [kɔntʁɔˈliːʁən]. kontrollierte is at rank #14,846, tagged as anadj, pronounced [kɔntʁɔˈliːɐ̯tə].
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 18979, this pair ranks #1,912,990 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of kontrollieren vs kontrollierte
Shared letters: eiklnort. Private to "kontrollieren": -. Private to "kontrollierte": -.
"kontrollieren" · 13 letters · shape CVCCCVCCVVCVC · "kontrollierte" · 13 letters · shape CVCCCVCCVVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- kontrollieren ← kkontrollieren · knotrollieren · konntrollieren · konrtollieren · kontorllieren · kontrlolieren · kontrolieren · kontrolileren
- kontrollierte ← kkontrollierte · knotrollierte · konntrollierte · konrtollierte · kontorllierte · kontrlolierte · kontrolierte · kontrolilerte
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "kontrollieren" for "kontrollierte" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "kontrollieren" or "kontrollierte" show up more?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "kontrollieren" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "kontrollierte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,912,990 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "kontrollieren" and "kontrollierte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "kontrollierte vs kontrollierten". 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 #1,912,990 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.