Difference between Lens & Lense

Lens refers to a device made of transparent material, such as glass, with curved surfaces used to focus rays of light to form an image at the desired location for human beings. The plural form of lens is lenses. These devices are utilized by people with poor vision to help them see everything around them clearly and are also used in cameras. In addition, the term “lens” is used to describe sunglasses or safety glasses and is part of human anatomy.

Lense is a spelling variant used by some people in different parts of the world. Although Microsoft Word rejects this spelling when typing, it is accepted as correct by many dictionaries. However, since most people use the spelling “lens,” some may feel as if “lense” is incorrect or refers to something else.

Key Takeaways

• Lens is the correct spelling, but lense is also not incorrect; the plural form of lens is lenses.
• Although lens is used by most people and is very common, it does not mean that lense is incorrect.
• Etymologically, lense makes more sense than lens as one can make the plural by adding just a single s, as is the case with many other nouns.