Which to use
“contrôlent” is a verb and “contrôles” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #14,233
- “contrôlent” frequency rank
- #5,542
- “contrôles” frequency rank
- 19775
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | contrôlent | contrôles |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent de contrôler. | Pluriel de contrôle. |
Same sound, different letters: contrôlent vs contrôles
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 8 letters. contrôlent runs 10 letters (CVCCCVCVCC) against contrôles's 9 (CVCCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Same sound, different spelling - contrôlent / contrôles
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: contrôlent and contrôles carry the same recorded pronunciation, \kɔ̃.tʁol\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is averb, the other anoun, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19775, 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\. contrôles is at rank #5,542, tagged as anoun, 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 19775, this pair ranks #371,620 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of contrôlent vs contrôles
Shared letters: celnortô. Private to "contrôlent": -. Private to "contrôles": s.
"contrôlent" · 10 letters · shape CVCCCVCVCC · "contrôles" · 9 letters · shape CVCCCVCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "contrôlent" and "contrôles" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "contrôlent" or "contrôles" show up more?
After this comparison
Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.
- Full dictionary entry for "contrôlent" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "contrôles" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #371,620 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "contrôlent" and "contrôles" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "contrôlaient vs contrôlent". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #371,620 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.