Which to use
“censée” and “censés” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #8,511
- “censée” frequency rank
- #10,654
- “censés” frequency rank
- 19165
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | censée | censés |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin singulier de censé. | Masculin pluriel de censé. |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set censée and censés apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
This is the hard kind. censée and censés are pronounced identically (\sɑ̃.se\) and both work as anadjective. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by a single letter - e in “censée” becomes s in “censés”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19165, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
censée is recorded at frequency rank #8,511, classified as anadj, pronounced \sɑ̃.se\. censés is at rank #10,654, tagged as anadj, pronounced \sɑ̃.se\.
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 19165, this pair ranks #374,639 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of censée vs censés
Shared letters: censé. Private to "censée": -. Private to "censés": -.
"censée" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV · "censés" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "censée" and "censés" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "censée" or "censés"?
Remembering censée vs censés
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “censée” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable