consolarvscontrolarConfusable pair

Which to use

“consolar” and “controlar” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#26,685
“consolar” frequency rank
#2,180
“controlar” frequency rank
28865
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature consolar controlar
Definition confortar guiar, conduzir

Where the eye mixes consolar and controlar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.

8 ch
consolar
9 ch
controlar

Visual trap between consolar and controlar

A purely visual mix-up. consolar (/kõ.su.ˈlaɾ/) and controlar (/kõ.tɾo.ˈlaχ/) 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 28865, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

consolar is recorded at frequency rank #26,685, classified as averb, pronounced /kõ.su.ˈlaɾ/. controlar is at rank #2,180, tagged as averb, pronounced /kõ.tɾo.ˈlaχ/.

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 28865, this pair ranks #39,894 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of consolar vs controlar

Shared letters: aclnor. Private to "consolar": s. Private to "controlar": t.

"consolar" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC  ·  "controlar" · 9 letters · shape CVCCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • consolarcconsolar · cnosolar · connsolar · conoslar · consloar · consoalr · consolarr · consollar
  • controlarccontrolar · cnotrolar · conntrolar · conrtolar · contorlar · contrloar · controalr · controlarr

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "consolar" and "controlar" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/kõ.su.ˈlaɾ/ versus /kõ.tɾo.ˈlaχ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "consolar" vs "controlar" - which ranks higher?
"controlar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,180 in our Portuguese list, against #26,685 for "consolar". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "consolar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "controlar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #39,894 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "consolar" and "controlar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "consolar vs consumar". 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 #39,894 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list