sensible
/ˈsɛn.sə.bəl/adjective
sensible is spelled S-E-N-S-I-B-L-E. The wrong spelling people search most is sensable: about 40 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 36 of all searches for the word. Sensible is an adjective meaning “Acting with or showing good sense; able to make good judgements based on reason or wisdom, or reflecting such…”.
How many letters and syllables are in sensible?
| Letters | 8: S-E-N-S-I-B-L-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 9.5 times per million words; the 7,338th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, sensable, about 40 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
| Rhymes with |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How do you spell sensible?
Sensible is spelled S-E-N-S-I-B-L-E. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 36 of the searches for sensible in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is sensible?
Sensible appears 9.5 times per million words in written English, the 7,338th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce sensible?
- UK /ˈsɛn.sɪ.bəl/
- UK [ˈsɛn.sɪ.bl̩]
- US /ˈsɛn.sə.bəl/
Sensible has 3 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-sensible.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with sensible?
One word on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as sensible from its last stressed vowel (/ɛnsəbəl/):
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of sensible
- more sensible comparative
- most sensible superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does sensible mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Acting with or showing good sense; able to make good judgements based on reason or wisdom, or reflecting such ability.
- 2
Characterized more by usefulness, practicality, or comfort than by attractiveness, formality, or fashionableness, especially of clothing.
I only wear high heels on formal occasions; otherwise, I prefer sensible shoes.
- 3
Able to be sensed by the senses or the psyche; able to be perceived.
For Plato the belief in sensible objects is fallible.
- 4
archaicAble to feel or perceive.
- 5
archaicLiable to external impression; easily affected; sensitive.
a sensible thermometer
- 6
archaicOf or pertaining to the senses; sensory.
- 7
archaicCognizant; having the perception of something; aware of something.
noun
- 1
obsoleteSensation; sensibility.
- 2
obsoleteThat which impresses itself on the senses; anything perceptible.
Accordingly, with respect to their knowability or opinability, Socrates makes no distinction among the sensibles between natural things and artifacts (510a5–6); both are relegated to the realm of opinion. Hence, there is no Socratic-Platoni
- 3
obsoleteThat which has sensibility; a sensitive being.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Sensible in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| German | wahrnehmbar , spürbar , der Empfindung fähig , gewahr , vernünftig |
| French | sensible , sensé, raisonnable , pratique |
| Portuguese | sensato , prático |
| Spanish | razonable, sensato, sesudo , práctico |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does sensible come from?
From Latin sēnsibilis (“perceptible by the senses, having feeling, sensible”), from sentiō (“to feel, perceive”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).