encensvsenclinsConfusable pair

Quick tell: encens is a noun, enclins is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“encens” is a noun and “enclins” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#22,254
“encens” frequency rank
#25,302
“enclins” frequency rank
47556
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature encens enclins
Definition Espèce de résine aromatique dont on fait souvent usage, en la brulant, dans les cérémonies religieuses. Il s’agit souvent de d’une gomme-résine venant d’arbres thurifères du genre Boswellia. Masculin pluriel d’enclin.

Where the eye mixes encens and enclins

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. encens runs 6 letters (VCCVCC) against enclins's 7 (VCCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
encens
7 ch
enclins

Look-alike desk: encens vs enclins

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: encens is \ɑ̃.sɑ̃\ while enclins is \ɑ̃.klɛ̃\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47556, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

encens is recorded at frequency rank #22,254, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɑ̃.sɑ̃\. enclins is at rank #25,302, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ɑ̃.klɛ̃\.

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 47556, this pair ranks #186,024 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of encens vs enclins

Shared letters: cens. Private to "encens": -. Private to "enclins": il.

"encens" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCC  ·  "enclins" · 7 letters · shape VCCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • encensecnens · enccens · encenns · encenss · encesn · encnes · enecns · enncens
  • enclinsecnlins · encclins · encilns · enclinns · enclinss · enclisn · encllins · enclnis

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "encens" and "enclins" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "encens" is a noun and "enclins" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "encens" or "enclins"?
"encens" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,254 in our French list, against #25,302 for "enclins". 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 "encens" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "enclins" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #186,024 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "encens" and "enclins" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "encens vs encres". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #186,024 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