under control

prep_phrase

"under-control" is a 12-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“under control” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a prep_phrase. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
13
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Being taken care of or being addressed.

Corpus desk

Index EN-under-control · under control · English

under control · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 13 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "U" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Key facts for under control
PropertyValue
Headwordunder control
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechPrep_phrase
Letters13
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “under control” in English

under controlsits beyond the 100,000 most-frequent English words, in the long tail of technical, archaic, or otherwise rare vocabulary where spelling doubt tends to strike hardest.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

under control is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as aprep_phrase. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

No generated misspelling entries exist for under control in our index, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

No documented word history exists for this headword, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct English form is under control, spelled U-N-D-E-R- -C-O-N-T-R-O-L.

Definition

  1. 1
    Being taken care of or being addressed.
  2. 2
    Being actively controlled, or able to be actively controlled in its current state.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how under control appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Don't worry; the police have been called and the situation is under control.
  2. Throughout the turbulence encounter, the pilots kept the aircraft under control.

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "under control"?
"under control" is spelled U-N-D-E-R- -C-O-N-T-R-O-L.
What does "under control" mean?
As a prep_phrase, "under control" means: Being taken care of or being addressed.
What language does "under control" come from?
"under control" is a English word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list