# sense

> English word · Noun · IPA /sɛns/ · frequency rank #665

## Definitions
1. Any of the manners by which living beings perceive the physical world: for humans sight, smell, hearing, touch, taste.
2. Perception through the intellect; apprehension; awareness.
3. Sound practical or moral judgment.
4. The meaning, reason, or value of something.
5. The meaning, reason, or value of something.
6. The meaning, reason, or value of something.
7. A natural appreciation or ability.
8. The way that a referent is presented.
9. One of two opposite directions in which a vector (especially of motion) may point. See also polarity.
10. One of two opposite directions of rotation, clockwise versus anti-clockwise.
11. referring to the strand of a nucleic acid that directly specifies the product.

## Etymology
From Middle English sense, from Old French sens, sen, san (“sense, perception, direction”); partly from Latin sēnsus (“sensation, feeling, meaning”), from sentiō (“feel, perceive”); partly of Germanic origin (whence also Occitan sen, Italian senno), from Vulgar Latin *sennus (“sense, reason, way”), from Frankish *sinn ("reason, judgement, mental faculty, way, direction"; whence also Dutch zin, German Sinn, Swedish sinne, Norwegian sinn). Both Latin and Germanic from Proto-Indo-European *sent- (“to feel”).

## Easily confused with
- **ses** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sense-vs-ses)
- **SSE** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sense-vs-sse)
- **SNS** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sense-vs-sns)
- **sent** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sense-vs-sent)
- **sets** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sense-vs-sets)
- **sons** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sense-vs-sons)
- **sins** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sense-vs-sins)
- **suns** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sense-vs-suns)
- **sine** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sense-vs-sine)
- **sone** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sense-vs-sone)
- **since** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sense-vs-since)
- **serve** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sense-vs-serve)
- **serie** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sense-vs-serie)
- **serge** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sense-vs-serge)
- **sunset** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sense-vs-sunset)
- **senses** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sense-vs-senses)
- **sensor** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sense-vs-sensor)
- **Spence** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sense-vs-spence)
- **sensed** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sense-vs-sensed)
- **sensei** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sense-vs-sensei)

## Common misspellings (7)
`esnse`, `senes`, `sennse`, `sensse`, `sesne`, `snese`, `ssense`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/sense