censéevscreuséeTell them apart

Which to use

“censée” and “creusée” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#8,511
“censée” frequency rank
#28,504
“creusée” frequency rank
37015
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature censée creusée
Definition Féminin singulier de censé. Féminin singulier de creusé.

Where the eye mixes censée and creusée

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. censée runs 6 letters (CVCCVV) against creusée's 7 (CCVVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
censée
7 ch
creusée

Why the eye confuses censée with creusée

A purely visual mix-up. censée (\sɑ̃.se\) and creusée (\kʁø.ze\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37015, 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\. creusée is at rank #28,504, tagged as anadj, pronounced \kʁø.ze\.

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 37015, this pair ranks #265,479 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of censée vs creusée

Shared letters: cesé. Private to "censée": n. Private to "creusée": ru.

"censée" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV  ·  "creusée" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "censée" for "creusée" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\sɑ̃.se\ versus \kʁø.ze\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "censée" vs "creusée" - which ranks higher?
"censée" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,511 in our French list, against #28,504 for "creusée". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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 "creusée" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #265,479 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "censée" and "creusée" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "creusée vs creusot". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #265,479 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list