Which to use
“sense” is a verb and “sensée” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #29,539
- “sense” frequency rank
- #21,769
- “sensée” frequency rank
- 51308
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sense | sensée |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Deuxième personne du singulier de l’impératif présent de sensen. | Féminin singulier de sensé. |
Where the eye mixes sense and sensée
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. sense runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against sensée's 6 (CVCCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses sense with sensée
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sense is \ˈzɛnzə\ while sensée is \sɑ̃.se\. 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 (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51308, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sense is recorded at frequency rank #29,539, classified as averb, pronounced \ˈzɛnzə\. sensée is at rank #21,769, tagged as anadj, pronounced \sɑ̃.se\.
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 51308, this pair ranks #156,025 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of sense vs sensée
Shared letters: ens. Private to "sense": -. Private to "sensée": é.
"sense" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "sensée" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- sense ← esnse · senes · sennse · sensse · sesne · snese · ssense
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "sense" and "sensée" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "sense" or "sensée" 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 "sense" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sensée" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #156,025 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sense" and "sensée" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sense vs stase". 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 #156,025 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.