Français homophones

cent/cents/sang/sangs/sans/sent

"cent" is an adjective; "sang" is a noun - grammar picks the spelling, not sound. Size rank #20 of 9,139 French groups.

Data vintage 2026-05-06

Grammar picks the spelling

Same sound, different grammar: "cent" arrives as an adjective, while "sang" is a noun. Once the sentence role is fixed, only one spelling fits.

Spelling pairs in this cluster

Shared stem "cent" then splits - "cent" (4 letters) vs "cents" (5).
No shared spelling stem: "cent" is 4 letters, "sang" is 4; only the sound ties them.
No shared spelling stem: "cent" is 4 letters, "sangs" is 5; only the sound ties them.
No shared spelling stem: "cent" is 4 letters, "sans" is 4; only the sound ties them.
No shared spelling stem: "cent" is 4 letters, "sent" is 4; only the sound ties them.
No shared spelling stem: "cents" is 5 letters, "sang" is 4; only the sound ties them.
No shared spelling stem: "cents" is 5 letters, "sangs" is 5; only the sound ties them.
No shared spelling stem: "cents" is 5 letters, "sans" is 4; only the sound ties them.
No shared spelling stem: "cents" is 5 letters, "sent" is 4; only the sound ties them.
Shared stem "sang" then splits - "sang" (4 letters) vs "sangs" (5).
Single-letter fork: "sang" keeps g, "sans" writes s at letter 4.
No shared spelling stem: "sang" is 4 letters, "sent" is 4; only the sound ties them.
Shared stem "san" then splits - "sangs" (5 letters) vs "sans" (4).
No shared spelling stem: "sangs" is 5 letters, "sent" is 4; only the sound ties them.
No shared spelling stem: "sans" is 4 letters, "sent" is 4; only the sound ties them.

Orthographic DNA of this cluster

Shared letters across cent, cents, sang, sangs, sans, sent: n. Private letters are the ones only one spelling owns: the eye's fastest tell once sound is out of the picture.

cent
4 letters · 1 vowels · shape CVCC
Inventory cent · private cet
cents
5 letters · 1 vowels · shape CVCCC
Inventory censt · private cest
sang
4 letters · 1 vowels · shape CVCC
Inventory agns · private ags
sangs
5 letters · 1 vowels · shape CVCCC
Inventory agns · private ags
sans
4 letters · 1 vowels · shape CVCC
Inventory ans · private as
sent
4 letters · 1 vowels · shape CVCC
Inventory enst · private est

Pick the spelling from the meaning

Write "cent" when you mean: Quatre-vingt-dix-neuf plus un, soit dix fois dix, correspondant au nombre 100.
Write "cents" when you mean: Pluriel de cent.
Write "sang" when you mean: Organe liquide constitué de globules rouges, de cellules immunitaires (globules blancs) et de plaquettes sanguines, baignés dans le plasm…
Write "sangs" when you mean: Pluriel de sang.
Write "sans" when you mean: Préposition marquant l’absence, le manque, l’exclusion d’une personne, d’une chose. — Note d’usage : On n’utilise généralement pas d’arti…
Write "sent" when you mean: Troisième personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de sentir.

Known mistypes of these spellings

Edit-distance variants recorded against this cluster: useful when a search or OCR feed lands on the wrong form.

cent ← ccent · cennt · centt · cetn · cnet · ecnt
cents ← ccents · cennts · censt · centss · centts · cetns
sang ← asng · sagn · sangg · sanng · snag · ssang
sangs ← asngs · sagns · sanggs · sangss · sanngs · sansg
sans ← asns · sanns · sanss · sasn · snas · ssans
sent ← esnt · sennt · sentt · setn · snet · ssent

Each spelling

cent

adjective · /\sɑ̃\/ · #1,854 frequency

Quatre-vingt-dix-neuf plus un, soit dix fois dix, correspondant au nombre 100.

cents

adjective · /\sɑ̃\/ · #4,053 frequency

Pluriel de cent.

sang

noun · /\sɑ̃\/ · #886 frequency

Organe liquide constitué de globules rouges, de cellules immunitaires (globules blancs) et de plaquettes sanguines, baignés dans le plasma sanguin et dont le rôle principal est le transport de l’oxygène, du dioxyde de carbone des nutriments et des déchets chez les vertébrés.

sangs

noun · /\sɑ̃\/ · #40,003 frequency

Pluriel de sang.

sans

preposition · /\sɑ̃\/ · #80 frequency

Préposition marquant l’absence, le manque, l’exclusion d’une personne, d’une chose. — Note d’usage : On n’utilise généralement pas d’article indéfini ou partitif. Peut s’accentuer avec aucun.

sent

verb · /\sɑ̃\/ · #1,575 frequency

Troisième personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de sentir.