Science · Fact check

Do humans have only five senses?

Rated: Mostly false 2 of 5 on the fact-check scale

Largely no — the evidence mostly does not support this claim.

FalseTrue

The claim

Humans have only five senses.

What the evidence shows

The familiar list of five senses is an oversimplification. In addition to sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch, humans have senses such as balance (the vestibular sense), body position (proprioception), temperature, pain, and the sense of time. Scientists count well beyond five depending on how a 'sense' is defined.

This summary describes a fact-check originally published by Live Science. FactGuard did not conduct this review; we summarize it and link to the original. Read the original fact-check by Live Science →