censeurvsconteurWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“censeur” and “conteur” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#39,203
“censeur” frequency rank
#23,152
“conteur” frequency rank
62355
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature censeur conteur
Definition Magistrat romain chargé d’établir le cens, c’est-à-dire le recensement des citoyens, le contrôle de l’état de leur fortune, et la légitimité de leur appartenance à telle ou telle classe (sénatoriale ou équestre). Celui qui écrit ou raconte des contes.

Where the eye mixes censeur and conteur

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
censeur
7 ch
conteur

Why the eye confuses censeur with conteur

A purely visual mix-up. censeur (\sɑ̃.sœʁ\) and conteur (\kɔ̃.tœʁ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 62355, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

censeur is recorded at frequency rank #39,203, classified as anoun, pronounced \sɑ̃.sœʁ\. conteur is at rank #23,152, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kɔ̃.tœʁ\.

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 62355, this pair ranks #87,583 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of censeur vs conteur

Shared letters: cenru. Private to "censeur": s. Private to "conteur": ot.

"censeur" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC  ·  "conteur" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • censeurccenseur · cenesur · cennseur · censeru · censeurr · censseur · cesneur · cneseur
  • conteurcconteur · cnoteur · conetur · connteur · conteru · conteurr · contteur · contuer

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "censeur" and "conteur" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\sɑ̃.sœʁ\ versus \kɔ̃.tœʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "censeur" or "conteur"?
"conteur" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,152 in our French list, against #39,203 for "censeur". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "censeur" and "conteur" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "censeur" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "conteur" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #87,583 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "censeur" and "conteur" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "casseur vs censeur". 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 #87,583 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list