sensvsSenseWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“sens” and “Sense” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#42,806
“sens” frequency rank
#17,129
“Sense” frequency rank
59935
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sens Sense
Definition Bedeutung; Sinn scharfes Werkzeug mit langem Stiel zum Mähen von Gras, Getreide und Ähnlichem

Where the eye mixes sens and Sense

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

4 ch
sens
5 ch
Sense

Why the eye confuses sens with Sense

A purely visual mix-up. sens ([sɑ̃s]) and Sense ([ˈzɛnzə]) 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 extra letter(s) - “sens” sits inside “Sense”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59935, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sens is recorded at frequency rank #42,806, classified as anoun, pronounced [sɑ̃s]. Sense is at rank #17,129, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈzɛnzə].

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 59935, this pair ranks #805,874 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of sens vs Sense

Shared letters: ens. Private to "sens": -. Private to "Sense": -.

"sens" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "Sense" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sensesns · senns · senss · sesn · snes · ssens
  • Senseesnse · senes · sennse · sensse · sesne · snese · ssense

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "sens" and "Sense" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([sɑ̃s] versus [ˈzɛnzə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "sens" or "Sense"?
"Sense" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,129 in our German list, against #42,806 for "sens". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "sens" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Sense" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #805,874 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sens" and "Sense" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "seg vs sens". 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 #805,874 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list