controlvscontroleWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#509
“control” frequency rank
#23,002
“controle” frequency rank
23511
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature control controle
Definition El acto o el poder de dominar, dirigir, regular, comandar, controlar. Primera persona del singular (yo) del presente de subjuntivo de controlar o de controlarse.

Where the eye mixes control and controle

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.

7 ch
control
8 ch
controle

Look-alike desk: control vs controle

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: control is [kõn̪ˈt̪ɾol] while controle is [kõn̪ˈt̪ɾole]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “control” sits inside “controle”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23511, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

control is recorded at frequency rank #509, classified as anoun, pronounced [kõn̪ˈt̪ɾol]. controle is at rank #23,002, tagged as averb, pronounced [kõn̪ˈt̪ɾole].

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 23511, this pair ranks #245,465 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of control vs controle

Shared letters: clnort. Private to "control": -. Private to "controle": e.

"control" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC  ·  "controle" · 8 letters · shape CVCCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • controlccontrol · cnotrol · conntrol · conrtol · contorl · contrlo · controll · contrrol
  • controleccontrole · cnotrole · conntrole · conrtole · contorle · contrloe · controel · controlle

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "control" and "controle" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "control" is a noun and "controle" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "control" vs "controle" - which ranks higher?
"control" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #509 in our Spanish list, against #23,002 for "controle". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "control" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "controle" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #245,465 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "control" and "controle" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "controle 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 #245,465 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