censésvscentsWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#10,654
“censés” frequency rank
#4,053
“cents” frequency rank
14707
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature censés cents
Definition Masculin pluriel de censé. Pluriel de cent.

Where the spellings diverge

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

6 ch
censés
5 ch
cents

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. censés (\sɑ̃.se\) and cents (\sɑ̃\) 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 14707, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

censés is recorded at frequency rank #10,654, classified as anadj, pronounced \sɑ̃.se\. cents is at rank #4,053, tagged as anadj, pronounced \sɑ̃\.

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 14707, this pair ranks #395,535 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of censés vs cents

Shared letters: cens. Private to "censés": é. Private to "cents": t.

"censés" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "cents" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • centsccents · cennts · censt · centss · centts · cetns · cnets · ecnts

Frequency comparison

censés#10,654
cents#4,053

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "censés" and "cents" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\sɑ̃.se\ versus \sɑ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "censés" or "cents"?
"cents" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,053 in our French list, against #10,654 for "censés". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering censés vs cents

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 “censés” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list