Which to use
“censure” and “césure” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #5,218
- “censure” frequency rank
- #44,409
- “césure” frequency rank
- 49627
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | censure | césure |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | Coupure d’un vers. Sorte de repos qui est placé en des endroits différents selon la nature des vers. |
Where the eye mixes censure and césure
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between censure and césure
A purely visual mix-up. censure (\sɑ̃.syʁ\) and césure (\se.zyʁ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49627, 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\. césure is at rank #44,409, tagged as anoun, pronounced \se.zyʁ\.
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 49627, this pair ranks #169,110 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of censure vs césure
Shared letters: cersu. Private to "censure": n. Private to "césure": é.
"censure" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV · "césure" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- censure ← ccensure · cennsure · censrue · censsure · censuer · censurre · cenusre · cesnure
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "censure" and "césure" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "censure" vs "césure" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "censure" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "césure" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #169,110 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "censure" and "césure" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cese 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 #169,110 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.