controladorvscontrolamosWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: controlador is a adjective, controlamos is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“controlador” is an adjective and “controlamos” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#17,651
“controlador” frequency rank
#44,658
“controlamos” frequency rank
62309
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature controlador controlamos
Definition Que controla. Primera persona del plural (nosotros, nosotras) del presente de indicativo de controlar o de controlarse.

Where the eye mixes controlador and controlamos

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. controlador and controlamos follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCCVCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

11 ch
controlador
11 ch
controlamos

Why the eye confuses controlador with controlamos

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: controlador is [kõn̪t̪ɾolaˈð̞oɾ] while controlamos is [kõn̪t̪ɾoˈlamos]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 62309, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

controlador is recorded at frequency rank #17,651, classified as anadj, pronounced [kõn̪t̪ɾolaˈð̞oɾ]. controlamos is at rank #44,658, tagged as averb, pronounced [kõn̪t̪ɾoˈlamos].

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 62309, this pair ranks #52,482 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of controlador vs controlamos

Shared letters: aclnort. Private to "controlador": d. Private to "controlamos": ms.

"controlador" · 11 letters · shape CVCCCVCVCVC  ·  "controlamos" · 11 letters · shape CVCCCVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • controlador ← ccontrolador · cnotrolador · conntrolador · conrtolador · contorlador · contrloador · controaldor · controladdor
  • controlamos ← ccontrolamos · cnotrolamos · conntrolamos · conrtolamos · contorlamos · contrloamos · controalmos · controlammos

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "controlador" for "controlamos" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "controlador" is an adjective and "controlamos" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "controlador" vs "controlamos" - which ranks higher?
"controlador" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,651 in our Spanish list, against #44,658 for "controlamos". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "controlador" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "controlamos" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #52,482 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "controlador" and "controlamos" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "contratamos vs controlamos". 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 #52,482 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