Which to use
“censeur” and “curseur” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #39,203
- “censeur” frequency rank
- #25,272
- “curseur” frequency rank
- 64475
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | censeur | curseur |
|---|---|---|
| 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). | Barre de réglage de divers instruments (compas, etc.). |
Where the eye mixes censeur and curseur
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. censeur and curseur follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between censeur and curseur
A purely visual mix-up. censeur (\sɑ̃.sœʁ\) and curseur (\kyʁ.sœʁ\) 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 64475, 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\. curseur is at rank #25,272, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kyʁ.sœʁ\.
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 64475, this pair ranks #76,901 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of censeur vs curseur
Shared letters: cersu. Private to "censeur": n. Private to "curseur": -.
"censeur" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC · "curseur" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "censeur" for "curseur" ever safe?
Frequency check: "censeur" vs "curseur" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "censeur" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "curseur" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #76,901 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "censeur" and "curseur" 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 #76,901 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.