A sensor element is proposed for an oxygen limiting current probe for the determination of the .lambda. value of gas mixtures, particularly the exhaust gases of internal-combustion engines, whose oxygen supply is provided by a short-circuit cell disposed upstream of the pumping cell of the sensor element. In this way the CO.sub.2 and H.sub.2 O transverse sensitivity of the sensor element is made ineffective. In order to obtain at the pumping cell a limiting current that is a linear function of the O.sub.2 partial pressure, a diffusion barrier must additionally be disposed between the short-circuit cell and the pumping cell.