censésvsclosesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#10,654
“censés” frequency rank
#24,153
“closes” frequency rank
34807
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature censés closes
Definition Masculin pluriel de censé. Féminin pluriel de clos.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set censés and closes apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
censés
6 ch
closes

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. censés (\sɑ̃.se\) and closes (\kloz\) 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 34807, 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\. closes is at rank #24,153, tagged as anadj, pronounced \kloz\.

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 34807, this pair ranks #281,219 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of censés vs closes

Shared letters: ces. Private to "censés": . Private to "closes": lo.

"censés" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "closes" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • closesccloses · clloses · cloess · closess · closses · clsoes · colses · lcoses

Frequency comparison

censés#10,654
closes#24,153

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "censés" and "closes" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\sɑ̃.se\ versus \kloz\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "censés" or "closes"?
"censés" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,654 in our French list, against #24,153 for "closes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering censés vs closes

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