scènesvssentesWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#3,362
“scènes” frequency rank
#42,044
“sentes” frequency rank
45406
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature scènes sentes
Definition Pluriel de scène. Pluriel de sente.

Where the eye mixes scènes and sentes

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. scènes (CCVCVC) and sentes (CVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
scènes
6 ch
sentes

Visual trap between scènes and sentes

A purely visual mix-up. scènes (\sɛn\) and sentes (\sɑ̃t\) 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 45406, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

scènes is recorded at frequency rank #3,362, classified as anoun, pronounced \sɛn\. sentes is at rank #42,044, tagged as anoun, pronounced \sɑ̃t\.

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 45406, this pair ranks #202,942 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of scènes vs sentes

Shared letters: ens. Private to "scènes": cè. Private to "sentes": t.

"scènes" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC  ·  "sentes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sentes ← esntes · senets · senntes · sentess · sentse · senttes · setnes · snetes

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "scènes" and "sentes" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\sɛn\ versus \sɑ̃t\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "scènes" or "sentes"?
"scènes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,362 in our French list, against #42,044 for "sentes". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "scènes" and "sentes" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "scènes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sentes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #202,942 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "scènes" and "sentes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sémites vs sentes". 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 #202,942 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