censéesvscentréesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#20,384
“censées” frequency rank
#35,420
“centrées” frequency rank
55804
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature censées centrées
Definition Féminin pluriel de censé. Féminin pluriel de centré.

Where the eye mixes censées and centrées

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

7 ch
censées
8 ch
centrées

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. censées (\sɑ̃.se\) and centrées (\sɑ̃.tʁe\) 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 55804, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

censées is recorded at frequency rank #20,384, classified as anadj, pronounced \sɑ̃.se\. centrées is at rank #35,420, tagged as anadj, pronounced \sɑ̃.tʁe\.

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 55804, this pair ranks #125,127 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of censées vs centrées

Shared letters: censé. Private to "censées": -. Private to "centrées": rt.

"censées" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC  ·  "centrées" · 8 letters · shape CVCCCVVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "censées" and "centrées" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\sɑ̃.se\ versus \sɑ̃.tʁe\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "censées" or "centrées"?
"censées" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,384 in our French list, against #35,420 for "centrées". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list