contóvscontrolWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: contó is a verb, control is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“contó” is a verb and “control” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#2,598
“contó” frequency rank
#509
“control” frequency rank
3107
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature contó control
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de contar. El acto o el poder de dominar, dirigir, regular, comandar, controlar.

Where the eye mixes contó and control

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
contó
7 ch
control

Look-alike desk: contó vs control

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: contó is [kõn̪ˈt̪o] while control is [kõn̪ˈt̪ɾol]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3107, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

contó is recorded at frequency rank #2,598, classified as averb, pronounced [kõn̪ˈt̪o]. control is at rank #509, tagged as anoun, pronounced [kõn̪ˈt̪ɾol].

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 3107, this pair ranks #319,020 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of contó vs control

Shared letters: cnot. Private to "contó": ó. Private to "control": lr.

"contó" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "control" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • controlccontrol · cnotrol · conntrol · conrtol · contorl · contrlo · controll · contrrol

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "contó" for "control" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "contó" is a verb and "control" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "contó" vs "control" - which ranks higher?
"control" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #509 in our Spanish list, against #2,598 for "contó". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "contó" and "control" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "contó" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "control" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #319,020 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "contó" and "control" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "contó vs count". 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 #319,020 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list