Which to use
“insensés” and “intense” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #47,396
- “insensés” frequency rank
- #4,498
- “intense” frequency rank
- 51894
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | insensés | intense |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Masculin pluriel de insensé. | Qui dépasse la mesure ordinaire ; qui est grand, fort ou vif. |
Where the eye mixes insensés and intense
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. insensés runs 8 letters (VCCVCCVC) against intense's 7 (VCCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: insensés vs intense
A purely visual mix-up. insensés (\ɛ̃.sɑ̃.se\) and intense (\ɛ̃.tɑ̃s\) 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 51894, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
insensés is recorded at frequency rank #47,396, classified as anadj, pronounced \ɛ̃.sɑ̃.se\. intense is at rank #4,498, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ɛ̃.tɑ̃s\.
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 51894, this pair ranks #151,668 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of insensés vs intense
Shared letters: eins. Private to "insensés": é. Private to "intense": t.
"insensés" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC · "intense" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- intense ← inetnse · inntense · intenes · intennse · intensse · intesne · intnese · inttense
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "insensés" for "intense" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "insensés" or "intense" show up more?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "insensés" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "intense" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #151,668 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "insensés" and "intense" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "insensés vs inventes". 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 #151,668 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.