Which to use
“censure” is a noun and “censurer” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #5,218
- “censure” frequency rank
- #24,512
- “censurer” frequency rank
- 29730
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | censure | censurer |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Examen qu’un gouvernement fait faire des livres, des journaux, des pièces de théâtre, etc., avant d’en permettre la publication ou la représentation. | Blâmer, critiquer, reprendre. |
Where the eye mixes censure and censurer
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. censure runs 7 letters (CVCCVCV) against censurer's 8 (CVCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses censure with censurer
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: censure is \sɑ̃.syʁ\ while censurer is \sɑ̃.sy.ʁe\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “censure” sits inside “censurer”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29730, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
censure is recorded at frequency rank #5,218, classified as anoun, pronounced \sɑ̃.syʁ\. censurer is at rank #24,512, tagged as averb, pronounced \sɑ̃.sy.ʁe\.
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 29730, this pair ranks #314,875 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of censure vs censurer
Shared letters: cenrsu. Private to "censure": -. Private to "censurer": -.
"censure" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV · "censurer" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "censure" and "censurer" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "censure" or "censurer" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "censure" and "censurer" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "censure" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "censurer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #314,875 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "censure" and "censurer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "censurer vs césure". 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 #314,875 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.