controversy
/ˈkɑn.tɹəˌvɝ.si/noun
controversy is spelled C-O-N-T-R-O-V-E-R-S-Y. The wrong spelling people search most is contraversy: about 80 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 18 of all searches for the word. Controversy is a noun meaning “A debate or discussion of opposing opinions; (generally) strife”. The plural of controversy is controversies.
How many letters and syllables are in controversy?
| Letters | 11: C-O-N-T-R-O-V-E-R-S-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 4 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 18 times per million words; the 4,589th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 4; the most searched, contraversy, about 80 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).
How do you spell controversy?
Controversy is spelled C-O-N-T-R-O-V-E-R-S-Y. 4 wrong spellings are searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 10 of the searches for controversy in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is controversy?
Controversy appears 18 times per million words in written English, the 4,589th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce controversy?
- /kənˈtɹɒv.ə.si/
- /ˈkɒn.tɹəˌvɜː.si/
- US /ˈkɑn.tɹəˌvɝ.si/
Controversy has 4 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-controversy.wav, En-us-controversy.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of controversy
- controversies plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does controversy mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A debate or discussion of opposing opinions; (generally) strife.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Controversy in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense debate, discussion of opposing opinions:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | controverse, polémique |
| German | Kontroverse, Meinungsverschiedenheit |
| Portuguese | controvérsia, polêmica |
| Spanish | controversia, polémica, manzana de la discordia, trabacuenta, cuestión batallona |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.