contralorvscontraloríaTell them apart

Which to use

“contralor” and “contraloría” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#27,165
“contralor” frequency rank
#16,543
“contraloría” frequency rank
43708
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature contralor contraloría
Definition En el cuerpo de artillería y en los hospitales del ejército: persona que interviene en la cuenta y razón de los caudales y efectos. Departamento de contabilidad e impuestos de un gobierno.

Where the eye mixes contralor and contraloría

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. contralor runs 9 letters (CVCCCVCVC) against contraloría's 11 (CVCCCVCVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
contralor
11 ch
contraloría

Look-alike desk: contralor vs contraloría

A purely visual mix-up. contralor ([kõn̪t̪ɾaˈloɾ]) and contraloría ([kõn̪t̪ɾaloˈɾia]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “contralor” sits inside “contraloría”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43708, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

contralor is recorded at frequency rank #27,165, classified as anoun, pronounced [kõn̪t̪ɾaˈloɾ]. contraloría is at rank #16,543, tagged as anoun, pronounced [kõn̪t̪ɾaloˈɾia].

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 43708, this pair ranks #141,136 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of contralor vs contraloría

Shared letters: aclnort. Private to "contralor": -. Private to "contraloría": í.

"contralor" · 9 letters · shape CVCCCVCVC  ·  "contraloría" · 11 letters · shape CVCCCVCVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • contralor ← ccontralor · cnotralor · conntralor · conrtalor · contarlor · contrallor · contralorr · contralro

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "contralor" and "contraloría" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([kõn̪t̪ɾaˈloɾ] versus [kõn̪t̪ɾaloˈɾia]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "contralor" or "contraloría" show up more?
"contraloría" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,543 in our Spanish list, against #27,165 for "contralor". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "contralor" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "contraloría" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #141,136 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "contralor" and "contraloría" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "contralor vs controlo". 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 #141,136 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