Which to use
“censor” and “sensor” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #18,034
- “censor” frequency rank
- #8,089
- “sensor” frequency rank
- 26123
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | censor | sensor |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | One of the two magistrates who originally administered the census of citizens, and by Classical times (between the 8th century B.C.E. and the 6th century C.E.) was a high judge of public behaviour and morality. | A device or organ that detects certain external stimuli and responds in a distinctive manner. |
Same sound, different letters: censor vs sensor
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 5 letters.
Ear matches; page differs - censor and sensor
This is the hard kind. censor and sensor are pronounced identically (/ˈsɛnsə/) and both work as anoun. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by a single letter - c in “censor” becomes s in “sensor”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26123, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
censor is recorded at frequency rank #18,034, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈsɛnsə/. sensor is at rank #8,089, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈsɛn.sə/.
Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.
With a confusion score of 26123, this pair ranks #389,055 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of censor vs sensor
Shared letters: enors. Private to "censor": c. Private to "sensor": -.
"censor" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "sensor" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "censor" and "sensor" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "censor" or "sensor"?
Useful next steps
You've separated the homophone pair "censor" / "sensor". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "censor" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sensor" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #389,055 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "censor" and "sensor" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sensor vs Spenser". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #389,055 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.