Which to use
“control” is a verb and “controls” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #384
- “control” frequency rank
- #3,549
- “controls” frequency rank
- 3933
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | control | controls |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To exercise influence over; to suggest or dictate the behavior of. | plural of control |
Where the eye mixes control and controls
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: control vs controls
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: control is /kənˈtɹəʊl/ while controls is /kənˈtɹəʊlz/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “control” sits inside “controls”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3933, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
control is recorded at frequency rank #384, classified as averb, pronounced /kənˈtɹəʊl/. controls is at rank #3,549, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kənˈtɹəʊlz/.
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 3933, this pair ranks #520,529 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of control vs controls
Shared letters: clnort. Private to "control": -. Private to "controls": s.
"control" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC · "controls" · 8 letters · shape CVCCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "control" for "controls" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "control" or "controls" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "control" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "controls" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #520,529 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "control" and "controls" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Conroy vs control". 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 #520,529 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.