Which to use
“censée” and “cernée” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #8,511
- “censée” frequency rank
- #44,362
- “cernée” frequency rank
- 52873
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | censée | cernée |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin singulier de censé. | Féminin singulier de cerné. |
Where the eye mixes censée and cernée
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. censée and cernée follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses censée with cernée
A purely visual mix-up. censée (\sɑ̃.se\) and cernée (\sɛʁ.ne\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52873, 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\. cernée is at rank #44,362, tagged as anadj, pronounced \sɛʁ.ne\.
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 52873, this pair ranks #144,668 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of censée vs cernée
Shared letters: cené. Private to "censée": s. Private to "cernée": r.
"censée" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV · "cernée" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "censée" for "cernée" ever safe?
Frequency check: "censée" vs "cernée" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "censée" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cernée" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #144,668 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "censée" and "cernée" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "carne vs cernée". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #144,668 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.