comptroller
/kəmpˈtɹoʊləɹ/
"comptroller" is a 11-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“comptroller” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #26,378 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #26,378
- frequency rank, English
- 11
- letters
- 16
- tracked misspellings
- 1
- confusable pair
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The chief accountant of a company or government.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | comptroller |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /kəmpˈtɹoʊləɹ/ |
| Letters | 11 |
| Frequency rank | #26,378 |
| Misspellings tracked | 16 |
| Confusable pairs | 1 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “comptroller” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for comptroller is 11 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /kəmpˈtɹoʊləɹ/. Corpus data places it at rank #26,378 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "The chief accountant of a company or government.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 16 likely wrong-spelling variants for comptroller, with forms such as "ccomptroller", "cmoptroller", and "commptroller". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 1 confusable-pair relationship, "controller", since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From late Middle English compteroller, a spelling variant of countreroller (from which controller) due to folk etymology: the word was thought to have an etymological connection with Middle French compte (“account”) (Middle French compteroleur is attested c… The correct English form is comptroller, spelled C-O-M-P-T-R-O-L-L-E-R.
Definition
- 1The chief accountant of a company or government.
Etymology
From late Middle English compteroller, a spelling variant of countreroller (from which controller) due to folk etymology: the word was thought to have an etymological connection with Middle French compte (“account”) (Middle French compteroleur is attested circa 1375). Originally the two spellings were equivalent and pronounced identically; the modern pronunciation with [mp] is based on the spelling.
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ccomptroller,cmoptroller,commptroller,compptroller,comprtoller,comptorller,comptrloler,comptrolelr,comptroler,comptrollerr,comptrollre,comptrroller,compttroller,comtproller,copmtroller,ocmptroller
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of comptroller - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "comptroller"?
What does "comptroller" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "comptroller"?
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Using “comptroller”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-O-M-P-T-R-O-L-L-E-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /kəmpˈtɹoʊləɹ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “controller” - see the side-by-side comparison. comptroller vs controller
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.