censovscesaConfusable pair

Quick tell: censo is a noun, cesa is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“censo” is a noun and “cesa” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#4,060
“censo” frequency rank
#27,145
“cesa” frequency rank
31205
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature censo cesa
Definition Lista de los ciudadanos de una población o país Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de cesar.

Where the eye mixes censo and cesa

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
censo
4 ch
cesa

Why the eye confuses censo with cesa

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: censo is [ˈsẽnso] while cesa is [ˈsesa]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31205, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

censo is recorded at frequency rank #4,060, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈsẽnso]. cesa is at rank #27,145, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈsesa].

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 31205, this pair ranks #208,250 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of censo vs cesa

Shared letters: ces. Private to "censo": no. Private to "cesa": a.

"censo" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "cesa" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • censoccenso · cennso · cenos · censso · cesno · cneso · ecnso · senso
  • cesaccesa · cessa · csea · ecsa

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "censo" and "cesa" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "censo" is a noun and "cesa" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "censo" or "cesa" show up more?
"censo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,060 in our Spanish list, against #27,145 for "cesa". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "censo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cesa" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #208,250 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "censo" and "cesa" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ceba vs cesa". 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 #208,250 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list