Which to use
“contrôleur” is a noun and “contrôlez” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #9,629
- “contrôleur” frequency rank
- #38,728
- “contrôlez” frequency rank
- 48357
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | contrôleur | contrôlez |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Celui qui est chargé de contrôler. | Deuxième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent de contrôler. |
Where the eye mixes contrôleur and contrôlez
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses contrôleur with contrôlez
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: contrôleur is \kɔ̃.tʁo.lœʁ\ while contrôlez is \kɔ̃.tʁo.le\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48357, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
contrôleur is recorded at frequency rank #9,629, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɔ̃.tʁo.lœʁ\. 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 48357, this pair ranks #179,562 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of contrôleur vs contrôlez
Shared letters: celnortô. Private to "contrôleur": u. Private to "contrôlez": z.
"contrôleur" · 10 letters · shape CVCCCVCVVC · "contrôlez" · 9 letters · shape CVCCCVCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "contrôleur" and "contrôlez" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "contrôleur" or "contrôlez" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "contrôleur" 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 #179,562 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "contrôleur" and "contrôlez" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "contrôlez vs controller". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #179,562 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.