Which to use
“contrôles” and “contrôleurs” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #5,542
- “contrôles” frequency rank
- #13,554
- “contrôleurs” frequency rank
- 19096
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | contrôles | contrôleurs |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de contrôle. | Pluriel de contrôleur. |
Where the eye mixes contrôles and contrôleurs
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. contrôles runs 9 letters (CVCCCVCVC) against contrôleurs's 11 (CVCCCVCVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses contrôles with contrôleurs
A purely visual mix-up. contrôles (\kɔ̃.tʁol\) and contrôleurs (\kɔ̃.tʁo.lœʁ\) 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 19096, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
contrôles is recorded at frequency rank #5,542, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɔ̃.tʁol\. contrôleurs is at rank #13,554, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kɔ̃.tʁo.lœʁ\.
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 19096, this pair ranks #375,033 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of contrôles vs contrôleurs
Shared letters: celnorstô. Private to "contrôles": -. Private to "contrôleurs": u.
"contrôles" · 9 letters · shape CVCCCVCVC · "contrôleurs" · 11 letters · shape CVCCCVCVVCC
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "contrôles" and "contrôleurs" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "contrôles" or "contrôleurs"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "contrôles" and "contrôleurs" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "contrôles" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "contrôleurs" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #375,033 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "contrôles" and "contrôleurs" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "contrôles vs controller". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #375,033 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.