Which to use
“insensés” and “intenses” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #47,396
- “insensés” frequency rank
- #11,603
- “intenses” frequency rank
- 58999
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | insensés | intenses |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Masculin pluriel de insensé. | Pluriel de intense. |
Where the eye mixes insensés and intenses
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. insensés and intenses follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: insensés vs intenses
A purely visual mix-up. insensés (\ɛ̃.sɑ̃.se\) and intenses (\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 share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58999, 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\. intenses is at rank #11,603, 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 58999, this pair ranks #105,660 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of insensés vs intenses
Shared letters: eins. Private to "insensés": é. Private to "intenses": t.
"insensés" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC · "intenses" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- intenses ← inetnses · inntenses · inteness · intennses · intensess · intensses · intesnes · intneses
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "insensés" and "intenses" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "insensés" or "intenses" show up more?
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 "insensés" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "intenses" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #105,660 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "insensés" and "intenses" 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 #105,660 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.