Which to use
“controversial” is an adjective and “controversies” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #4,842
- “controversial” frequency rank
- #17,110
- “controversies” frequency rank
- 21952
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | controversial | controversies |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Arousing or likely to arouse controversy. | plural of controversy |
Where the eye mixes controversial and controversies
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 11 letters in sequence. controversial and controversies follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCCVCVCCVVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: controversial vs controversies
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: controversial is /ˌkɒn.tɹəˈvɜː.ʃəl/ while controversies is /ˈkɒn.tɹəˌvɜːsiz/. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21952, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
controversial is recorded at frequency rank #4,842, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˌkɒn.tɹəˈvɜː.ʃəl/. controversies is at rank #17,110, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈkɒn.tɹəˌvɜːsiz/.
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 21952, this pair ranks #420,152 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of controversial vs controversies
Shared letters: ceinorstv. Private to "controversial": al. Private to "controversies": -.
"controversial" · 13 letters · shape CVCCCVCVCCVVC · "controversies" · 13 letters · shape CVCCCVCVCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- controversial ← ccontroversial · cnotroversial · conntroversial · conrtoversial · contorversial · controevrsial · controverisal · controverrsial
- controversies ← ccontroversies · cnotroversies · conntroversies · conrtoversies · contorversies · controevrsies · controverises · controverrsies
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "controversial" and "controversies" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "controversial" or "controversies" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "controversial" and "controversies" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "controversial" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "controversies" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #420,152 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "controversial" and "controversies" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "controversial vs controversially". 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 #420,152 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.