Which to use
“contre” is a preposition and “controle” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #45,771
- “contre” frequency rank
- #627
- “controle” frequency rank
- 46398
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | contre | controle |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | contra, encostado em, perto de, próximo a: | racionalização, fiscalização |
Where the eye mixes contre and controle
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between contre and controle
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: contre is /kɔ̃tʁ/ while controle is /kõ.ˈtɾo.li/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (preposition vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46398, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
contre is recorded at frequency rank #45,771, classified as aprep, pronounced /kɔ̃tʁ/. controle is at rank #627, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kõ.ˈtɾo.li/.
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 46398, this pair ranks #18,903 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of contre vs controle
Shared letters: cenort. Private to "contre": -. Private to "controle": l.
"contre" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV · "controle" · 8 letters · shape CVCCCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "contre" and "controle" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "contre" or "controle" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "contre" and "controle" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "contre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "controle" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #18,903 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "contre" and "controle" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "coentro vs contre". 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 #18,903 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.