controlevscontrôléesConfusable pair

Which to use

“controle” and “contrôlées” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#15,340
“controle” frequency rank
#18,447
“contrôlées” frequency rank
33787
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature controle contrôlées
Definition Première personne du singulier du présent du subjonctif de controlar. Participe passé féminin pluriel de contrôler.

Where the eye mixes controle and contrôlées

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. controle runs 8 letters (CVCCCVCV) against contrôlées's 10 (CVCCCVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
controle
10 ch
contrôlées

Visual trap between controle and contrôlées

A purely visual mix-up. controle (\konˈtɾo.le\) and contrôlées (\kɔ̃.tʁo.le\) 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 33787, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

controle is recorded at frequency rank #15,340, classified as averb, pronounced \konˈtɾo.le\. contrôlées is at rank #18,447, tagged as averb, pronounced \kɔ̃.tʁo.le\.

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 33787, this pair ranks #288,291 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of controle vs contrôlées

Shared letters: celnort. Private to "controle": -. Private to "contrôlées": séô.

"controle" · 8 letters · shape CVCCCVCV  ·  "contrôlées" · 10 letters · shape CVCCCVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • controle ← ccontrole · cnotrole · conntrole · conrtole · contorle · contrloe · controel · controlle

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "controle" for "contrôlées" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\konˈtɾo.le\ versus \kɔ̃.tʁo.le\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "controle" or "contrôlées"?
"controle" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,340 in our French list, against #18,447 for "contrôlées". 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 "controle" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "contrôlées" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #288,291 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "controle" and "contrôlées" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "contrôlées vs controller". 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 #288,291 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list