Which to use
“contrôlaient” and “contrôlent” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #46,675
- “contrôlaient” frequency rank
- #14,233
- “contrôlent” frequency rank
- 60908
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | contrôlaient | contrôlent |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif imparfait de contrôler. | Troisième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent de contrôler. |
Where the eye mixes contrôlaient and contrôlent
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 10 letters in sequence. contrôlaient runs 12 letters (CVCCCVCVVVCC) against contrôlent's 10 (CVCCCVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: contrôlaient vs contrôlent
A purely visual mix-up. contrôlaient (\kɔ̃.tʁo.lɛ\) and contrôlent (\kɔ̃.tʁol\) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60908, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
contrôlaient is recorded at frequency rank #46,675, classified as averb, pronounced \kɔ̃.tʁo.lɛ\. contrôlent is at rank #14,233, tagged as averb, pronounced \kɔ̃.tʁol\.
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 60908, this pair ranks #95,156 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of contrôlaient vs contrôlent
Shared letters: celnortô. Private to "contrôlaient": ai. Private to "contrôlent": -.
"contrôlaient" · 12 letters · shape CVCCCVCVVVCC · "contrôlent" · 10 letters · shape CVCCCVCVCC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "contrôlaient" and "contrôlent" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "contrôlaient" or "contrôlent" show up more?
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 "contrôlaient" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "contrôlent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #95,156 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "contrôlaient" and "contrôlent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "contrôlaient vs contrôlait". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #95,156 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.