Which to use
“contrôlait” and “contrôlant” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #30,112
- “contrôlait” frequency rank
- #27,383
- “contrôlant” frequency rank
- 57495
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | contrôlait | contrôlant |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier de l’indicatif imparfait de contrôler. | Participe présent de contrôler. |
Where the eye mixes contrôlait and contrôlant
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between contrôlait and contrôlant
A purely visual mix-up. contrôlait (\kɔ̃.tʁo.lɛ\) and contrôlant (\kɔ̃.tʁo.lɑ̃\) 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 a single letter - i in “contrôlait” becomes n in “contrôlant”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57495, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
contrôlait is recorded at frequency rank #30,112, classified as averb, pronounced \kɔ̃.tʁo.lɛ\. contrôlant is at rank #27,383, tagged as averb, pronounced \kɔ̃.tʁo.lɑ̃\.
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 57495, this pair ranks #114,699 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of contrôlait vs contrôlant
Shared letters: aclnortô. Private to "contrôlait": i. Private to "contrôlant": -.
"contrôlait" · 10 letters · shape CVCCCVCVVC · "contrôlant" · 10 letters · shape CVCCCVCVCC
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "contrôlait" and "contrôlant" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "contrôlait" or "contrôlant"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "contrôlait" and "contrôlant" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "contrôlait" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "contrôlant" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #114,699 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "contrôlait" and "contrôlant" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "contrôlaient vs contrôlait". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #114,699 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.