What is it?
Sensus trains you to see that a Latin word means something different depending on context. res can mean “thing”, “state” or “matter” — only the surrounding sentence tells you which. This is exactly where translations go wrong: not at the unknown word, but at the familiar word in the wrong meaning.
What do you practise here?
Polysemy — the different meanings of a word and how to tell from context which one is meant. The unit of learning is the pair (word, sense): res as “thing”, res as “state” and res as “matter” are three separate cards with their own learning progress. Only genuine differences in meaning are trained, not fixed phrases.
How do you practise here?
A sentence appears in which a polyseme occurs, and you decide which meaning fits here. How you do that changes with your level:
- Multiple choice: pick the right meaning from several.
- Contrast — click: two sentences with the same word; you click the one that carries the meaning in question.
- Contrast — match: several sentences and several meanings — you bring the two together.
Features
- Pair principle (word, sense): each meaning has its own learning progress — you practise precisely the meaning that gives you trouble.
- Three query types (MC, contrast-click, contrast-match), box-controlled.
- Only genuine polysemy: no collocations or light-verb constructions — but words that really carry several meanings.
- Level coupling to the Sentence Quiz: Sensus shows you polysemes matched to your Sentence Quiz progress — nothing far beyond your level.
- Fresh sentences at runtime: new examples come in automatically, without an app update.
What does the support look like?
If you pick the wrong meaning, Sensus sets the sentences side by side: here res means “state”, there “thing” — and you see which signal in the sentence makes the difference. Instead of a vocabulary equation “res = thing”, you learn to attend to context. That contrast is precisely the help.
How does the dyslexia support work here?
If you like: the OpenDyslexic font, wider letter spacing and a calm pace without time pressure. The sentences are short and the focus is on a single word — which keeps the reading load low. You correct your own mistakes — you only move on with the right match. A mistake never throws you back to zero; the card simply comes round again.
How do you learn here?
Technically: Each pair (word, sense) is its own card with its own box level and spaced-repetition review; the query type changes with the box. Which polysemes appear is coupled to your Sentence Quiz progress (steerable by teacher policy).
Scientifically: Learning meanings in direct contrast is more effective than learning each meaning on its own — comparison forces you to discriminate, a desirable difficulty (Bjork, 1994). And actively determining a meaning in real sentence context, rather than recalling a vocabulary equation, anchors it more deeply (testing effect, Roediger & Karpicke, 2006). That is what Sensus is built on.
Frequently asked questions
Why do I need Sensus if I’m already learning vocabulary?
Because many words have more than one meaning, and most translation errors come from exactly that: familiar word, wrong meaning. Sensus trains what a vocabulary list can’t — recognising the right meaning from context.
Is Sensus free?
Genuine polysemes only appear from the higher beginner material onwards, so at its core Sensus is a full-version module. In the free area (up to level L3) you get a taster; the full scope is unlocked by the full version.
Try it now
You can try the introduction to Sensus directly — no account, no credit card. Start for free →
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