controlabavscontroladasWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: controlaba is a verb, controladas is a participle, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“controlaba” is a verb and “controladas” is a participle - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#25,196
“controlaba” frequency rank
#16,544
“controladas” frequency rank
41740
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature controlaba controladas
Definition Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de controlar o de controlarse. Forma del femenino plural de controlado, participio de controlar o de controlarse.

Where the eye mixes controlaba and controladas

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence.

10 ch
controlaba
11 ch
controladas

Visual trap between controlaba and controladas

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: controlaba is [kõn̪t̪ɾoˈlaβ̞a] while controladas is [kõn̪t̪ɾoˈlað̞as]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs participle), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41740, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

controlaba is recorded at frequency rank #25,196, classified as averb, pronounced [kõn̪t̪ɾoˈlaβ̞a]. controladas is at rank #16,544, tagged as aparticiple, pronounced [kõn̪t̪ɾoˈlað̞as].

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 41740, this pair ranks #152,032 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of controlaba vs controladas

Shared letters: aclnort. Private to "controlaba": b. Private to "controladas": ds.

"controlaba" · 10 letters · shape CVCCCVCVCV  ·  "controladas" · 11 letters · shape CVCCCVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • controlabaccontrolaba · cnotrolaba · conntrolaba · conrtolaba · contorlaba · contrloaba · controalba · controlaab
  • controladasccontroladas · cnotroladas · conntroladas · conrtoladas · contorladas · contrloadas · controaldas · controlaads

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "controlaba" for "controladas" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "controlaba" is a verb and "controladas" a participle, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "controlaba" or "controladas"?
"controladas" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,544 in our Spanish list, against #25,196 for "controlaba". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "controlaba" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "controladas" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #152,032 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "controlaba" and "controladas" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "controlaba vs controlaban". 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 #152,032 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