sensvsSensorWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#42,806
“sens” frequency rank
#17,409
“Sensor” frequency rank
60215
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sens Sensor
Definition Bedeutung; Sinn technischer Fühler

Where the eye mixes sens and Sensor

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

4 ch
sens
6 ch
Sensor

Visual trap between sens and Sensor

A purely visual mix-up. sens ([sɑ̃s]) and Sensor ([ˈzɛnzoːɐ̯]) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “sens” sits inside “Sensor”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60215, 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]. Sensor is at rank #17,409, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈzɛnzoːɐ̯].

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 60215, this pair ranks #795,366 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of sens vs Sensor

Shared letters: ens. Private to "sens": -. Private to "Sensor": or.

"sens" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "Sensor" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sensesns · senns · senss · sesn · snes · ssens
  • Sensoresnsor · sennsor · senosr · sensorr · sensro · senssor · sesnor · snesor

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "sens" for "Sensor" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([sɑ̃s] versus [ˈzɛnzoːɐ̯]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "sens" vs "Sensor" - which ranks higher?
"Sensor" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,409 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.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "sens" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Sensor" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #795,366 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sens" and "Sensor" 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 #795,366 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