diff --git a/spacy/senses.pxd b/spacy/senses.pxd
index 392a92e05..dfb1e0263 100644
--- a/spacy/senses.pxd
+++ b/spacy/senses.pxd
@@ -3,19 +3,7 @@ cimport parts_of_speech
 from .typedefs cimport flags_t
 
 cpdef enum:
-    A_behavior
-    A_body
-    A_feeling
-    A_mind
-    A_motion
-    A_perception
-    A_quantity
-    A_relation
-    A_social
-    A_spatial
-    A_substance
-    A_time
-    A_weather
+    NO_SENSE
     N_act
     N_animal
     N_artifact
@@ -59,11 +47,7 @@ cpdef enum:
     N_SENSES
 
 
-
-
 cdef flags_t[<int>parts_of_speech.N_UNIV_TAGS] POS_SENSES
 
 
-# Can we not define this compile time? Have to hard code? :(
-# DEF INVALID_SENSE = 1 << 54
-cdef flags_t encode_sense_strs(sense_names) except 18014398509481984
+cdef flags_t encode_sense_strs(sense_names) except 0
diff --git a/spacy/senses.pyx b/spacy/senses.pyx
index de6e19300..f3dea35d9 100644
--- a/spacy/senses.pyx
+++ b/spacy/senses.pyx
@@ -20,9 +20,6 @@ POS_SENSES[<int>parts_of_speech.EOL] = 0
 
 cdef int _sense = 0
 
-for _sense in range(A_behavior, N_act):
-    POS_SENSES[<int>parts_of_speech.ADJ] |= 1 << _sense
-
 for _sense in range(N_act, V_body):
     POS_SENSES[<int>parts_of_speech.NOUN] |= 1 << _sense
 
@@ -30,21 +27,8 @@ for _sense in range(V_body, V_weather+1):
     POS_SENSES[<int>parts_of_speech.VERB] |= 1 << _sense
 
 
-
 STRINGS = (
-    'A_behavior',
-    'A_body',
-    'A_feeling',
-    'A_mind',
-    'A_motion',
-    'A_perception',
-    'A_quantity',
-    'A_relation',
-    'A_social',
-    'A_spatial',
-    'A_substance',
-    'A_time',
-    'A_weather',
+    '-NO_SENSE-',
     'N_act',
     'N_animal',
     'N_artifact',
@@ -90,13 +74,14 @@ STRINGS = (
 IDS = dict((sense_str, i) for i, sense_str in enumerate(STRINGS))
 
 
-cdef flags_t encode_sense_strs(sense_names) except 18014398509481984:
+cdef flags_t encode_sense_strs(sense_names) except 0:
     cdef flags_t sense_bits = 0
+    if len(sense_names) == 0:
+        return sense_bits | (1 << NO_SENSE)
     cdef flags_t sense_id = 0
     for sense_str in sense_names:
         if '.' in sense_str:
             sense_str = sense_str[0].upper() + '_' + sense_str.split('.')[1]
-        if sense_str != 'N_Tops':
-            sense_id = IDS[sense_str]
-            sense_bits |= (1 << sense_id)
+        sense_id = IDS[sense_str]
+        sense_bits |= (1 << sense_id)
     return sense_bits