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Cent or sent?

cent is a noun meaning “A subunit of currency equal to one-hundredth of the main unit of currency in…”; sent is a noun meaning “A subdivision of currency, equal to one hundredth of an Estonian kroon”. They sound the same (/sɛnt/). In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) sent is about 2.1 times as common as cent.

centorsent

What is the difference between cent and sent?

centsent
Part of speechnoun, prefixnoun, verb
Meaning

A subunit of currency equal to one-hundredth of the main unit of currency in many countries. Symbol: ¢

informalA small sum of money

A subdivision of currency, equal to one hundredth of an Estonian kroon

ExampleHe blew every last centnone recorded
Formscents (A subunit of currency equal to…)
cents. (Alternative spelling of cent (when…)		senti (A subdivision of currency, equal to…)
sents (Obsolete form of scent)
Pronunciation/sɛnt//sɛnt/
In writing68 times per million words145 times per million words

Sources: cent and sent in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

Every current meaning of cent and sent

cent

  1. 1

    noun A subunit of currency equal to one-hundredth of the main unit of currency in many countries. Symbol: ¢

  2. 2

    prefix Alternative form of centi-

  3. 3

    noun Abbreviation of central

  4. 4

    noun Alternative spelling of cent (when used as an abbreviation)

  5. 5

    noun informalA small sum of money

    He blew every last cent

  6. 6

    noun A subunit of currency equal to one-hundredth of the euro

  7. 7

    noun A coin having face value of one cent (in either of the above senses)

  8. 8

    noun A hundredth of a semitone or half step

sent

  1. 1

    noun A subdivision of currency, equal to one hundredth of an Estonian kroon

  2. 2

    noun Abbreviation of sentencing

  3. 3

    verb Abbreviation of sentenced

  4. 4

    noun Abbreviation of sentence

Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.

Which is more common, cent or sent?

cent appears 68 times per million words; sent 145 times per million words.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

The words