Which to use
“senses” and “sexes” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #8,088
- “senses” frequency rank
- #16,583
- “sexes” frequency rank
- 24671
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | senses | sexes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of sense | plural of sex |
Where the eye mixes senses and sexes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. senses runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against sexes's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between senses and sexes
A purely visual mix-up. senses (/ˈsɛnsɪz/) and sexes (/ˈsɛksɪz/) 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 24671, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
senses is recorded at frequency rank #8,088, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈsɛnsɪz/. sexes is at rank #16,583, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈsɛksɪz/.
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 24671, this pair ranks #400,260 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of senses vs sexes
Shared letters: es. Private to "senses": n. Private to "sexes": x.
"senses" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "sexes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "senses" and "sexes" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "senses" vs "sexes" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "senses" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sexes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #400,260 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "senses" and "sexes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "senses vs Spenser". 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 #400,260 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.