The invention relates to a method for controlling the operating mode of an internal combustion engine (1) comprising several cylinders (3) and an injection system (4) with one injection unit (5) per cylinder (3). According to said method: a digital measuring signal, which characterises the combustion of fuel (6) in the internal combustion engine (1), is first determined; said digital measuring signal is transformed into a frequency range; a misfiring of the ignition is detected using the amplitude information of the transformed measuring signal and if a misfiring has occurred, the injection of the individual cylinders (3) is deactivated sequentially for a predefined period and for each cylinder the corresponding digital measuring signal that characterises said cylinder is determined and transformed into the frequency range. A misfiring cylinder (3) is identified during the evaluation of the transformed measuring signal using the amplitude information. The invention also relates to a device for controlling the operating mode of an internal combustion engine (1) using a method of this type.