censure
/ˈsɛn.ʃə/
"censure" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“censure” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #31,101 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #31,101
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
- 10
- tracked misspellings
- 9
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The act of blaming, criticizing, or condemning as wrong; reprehension.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | censure |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈsɛn.ʃə/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #31,101 |
| Misspellings tracked | 10 |
| Confusable pairs | 9 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “censure” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for censure is 7 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈsɛn.ʃə/. Corpus data places it at rank #31,101 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for censure, with forms such as "ccensure", "cennsure", and "censrue". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 9 confusable-pair relationships, "centre", "census", "century", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From 1350–1400 Middle English censure, from Old French, from Latin censūra (“censor's office or assessment”), from censēre (“to consider, to assess, to value, to judge, to tax, etc.”). The correct English form is censure, spelled C-E-N-S-U-R-E.
Definition
- 1The act of blaming, criticizing, or condemning as wrong; reprehension.
- 2Official reprimand.
- 3A judicial or ecclesiastical sentence or reprimand; condemnatory judgment.
- 4A judgment (either favorable or unfavorable); an opinion.
Etymology
From 1350–1400 Middle English censure, from Old French, from Latin censūra (“censor's office or assessment”), from censēre (“to consider, to assess, to value, to judge, to tax, etc.”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ccensure,cennsure,censrue,censsure,censuer,censurre,cenusre,cesnure,cnesure,ecnsure
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of censure - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “censure”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-E-N-S-U-R-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈsɛn.ʃə/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “centre” - see the side-by-side comparison. censure vs centre
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.