Which to use
“contrôlent” and “contrôler” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #14,233
- “contrôlent” frequency rank
- #2,991
- “contrôler” frequency rank
- 17224
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | contrôlent | contrôler |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent de contrôler. | Vérifier la conformité, la régularité ou l'exactitude. |
Where the eye mixes contrôlent and contrôler
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. contrôlent runs 10 letters (CVCCCVCVCC) against contrôler's 9 (CVCCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses contrôlent with contrôler
A purely visual mix-up. contrôlent (\kɔ̃.tʁol\) and contrôler (\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 17224, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
contrôlent is recorded at frequency rank #14,233, classified as averb, pronounced \kɔ̃.tʁol\. contrôler is at rank #2,991, 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 17224, this pair ranks #384,212 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of contrôlent vs contrôler
Shared letters: celnortô. Private to "contrôlent": -. Private to "contrôler": -.
"contrôlent" · 10 letters · shape CVCCCVCVCC · "contrôler" · 9 letters · shape CVCCCVCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "contrôlent" and "contrôler" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "contrôlent" or "contrôler"?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "contrôlent" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "contrôler" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #384,212 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "contrôlent" and "contrôler" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "contrôlaient vs contrôlent". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #384,212 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.