controlevscontrôlezConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#15,340
“controle” frequency rank
#38,728
“contrôlez” frequency rank
54068
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature controle contrôlez
Definition Première personne du singulier du présent du subjonctif de controlar. Deuxième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent de contrôler.

Where the eye mixes controle and contrôlez

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. controle runs 8 letters (CVCCCVCV) against contrôlez's 9 (CVCCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
controle
9 ch
contrôlez

Look-alike desk: controle vs contrôlez

A purely visual mix-up. controle (\konˈtɾo.le\) and contrôlez (\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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54068, 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\. contrôlez is at rank #38,728, 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 54068, this pair ranks #136,519 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of controle vs contrôlez

Shared letters: celnort. Private to "controle": -. Private to "contrôlez": zô.

"controle" · 8 letters · shape CVCCCVCV  ·  "contrôlez" · 9 letters · shape CVCCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

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

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "controle" and "contrôlez" mean the same thing in a sentence?
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.
Frequency check: "controle" vs "contrôlez" - which ranks higher?
"controle" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,340 in our French list, against #38,728 for "contrôlez". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "controle" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "contrôlez" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #136,519 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "controle" and "contrôlez" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "contrôlez 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 #136,519 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