sensésvssondésWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: sensés is a adjective, sondés is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#31,255
“sensés” frequency rank
#28,354
“sondés” frequency rank
59609
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sensés sondés
Definition Masculin pluriel de sensé. Pluriel de sondé.

Where the eye mixes sensés and sondés

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. sensés and sondés follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
sensés
6 ch
sondés

Visual trap between sensés and sondés

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sensés is \sɑ̃.se\ while sondés is \sɔ̃.de\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59609, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sensés is recorded at frequency rank #31,255, classified as anadj, pronounced \sɑ̃.se\. sondés is at rank #28,354, tagged as anoun, pronounced \sɔ̃.de\.

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 59609, this pair ranks #102,209 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of sensés vs sondés

Shared letters: nsé. Private to "sensés": e. Private to "sondés": do.

"sensés" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "sondés" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "sensés" for "sondés" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "sensés" is an adjective and "sondés" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "sensés" or "sondés"?
"sondés" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #28,354 in our French list, against #31,255 for "sensés". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "sensés" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sondés" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #102,209 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sensés" and "sondés" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sofres vs sondés". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #102,209 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