censée vs sensés, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#8,511
“censée” frequency rank: #31,255
“sensés” frequency rank: 39766
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	censée	sensés
Definition	Féminin singulier de censé.	Masculin pluriel de sensé.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set censée and sensés apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch

censée

6 ch

sensés

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

This is the hard kind. censée and sensés 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 share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39766, 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\. sensés is at rank #31,255, 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 39766, this pair ranks #245,548 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of censée vs sensés

Shared letters: ensé. Private to "censée": c. Private to "sensés": -.

"censée" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV · "sensés" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Frequency comparison

censée#8,511

sensés#31,255

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "censée" and "sensés" be used interchangeably?

No. They are pronounced the same (\sɑ̃.se\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.

Which is more common, "censée" or "sensés"?

"censée" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,511 in our French list, against #31,255 for "sensés". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering censée vs sensés

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