censéesvscentrésWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#20,384
“censées” frequency rank
#32,730
“centrés” frequency rank
53114
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature censées centrés
Definition Féminin pluriel de censé. Masculin pluriel de centré.

Where the eye mixes censées and centrés

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
censées
7 ch
centrés

Look-alike desk: censées vs centrés

A purely visual mix-up. censées (\sɑ̃.se\) and centrés (\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 share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53114, 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\. centrés is at rank #32,730, 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 53114, this pair ranks #142,950 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of censées vs centrés

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

"censées" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC  ·  "centrés" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "censées" and "centrés" mean the same thing in a sentence?
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 "centrés"?
"censées" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,384 in our French list, against #32,730 for "centrés". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "censées" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "centrés" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #142,950 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "censées" and "centrés" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "centrés vs congres". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #142,950 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