censéesvscreuséesWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#20,384
“censées” frequency rank
#33,199
“creusées” frequency rank
53583
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature censées creusées
Definition Féminin pluriel de censé. Féminin pluriel de creusé.

Where the eye mixes censées and creusées

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. censées runs 7 letters (CVCCVVC) against creusées's 8 (CCVVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
censées
8 ch
creusées

Why the eye confuses censées with creusées

A purely visual mix-up. censées (\sɑ̃.se\) and creusées (\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 53583, 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\. creusées is at rank #33,199, 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 53583, this pair ranks #139,719 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of censées vs creusées

Shared letters: cesé. Private to "censées": n. Private to "creusées": ru.

"censées" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC  ·  "creusées" · 8 letters · shape CCVVCVVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "censées" and "creusées" mean the same thing in a sentence?
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: "censées" vs "creusées" - which ranks higher?
"censées" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,384 in our French list, against #33,199 for "creusées". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "censées" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "creusées" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #139,719 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "censées" and "creusées" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "creusées vs creuset". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #139,719 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