censurervscentrerWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#24,512
“censurer” frequency rank
#33,164
“centrer” frequency rank
57676
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature censurer centrer
Definition Blâmer, critiquer, reprendre. Mettre dans son centre.

Where the eye mixes censurer and centrer

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. censurer runs 8 letters (CVCCVCVC) against centrer's 7 (CVCCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
censurer
7 ch
centrer

Why the eye confuses censurer with centrer

A purely visual mix-up. censurer (\sɑ̃.sy.ʁe\) and centrer (\sɑ̃.tʁe\) 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 57676, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

censurer is recorded at frequency rank #24,512, classified as averb, pronounced \sɑ̃.sy.ʁe\. centrer is at rank #33,164, tagged as averb, pronounced \sɑ̃.tʁe\.

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 57676, this pair ranks #113,595 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of censurer vs centrer

Shared letters: cenr. Private to "censurer": su. Private to "centrer": t.

"censurer" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC  ·  "centrer" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • censurer ← ccensurer · cennsurer · censruer · censsurer · censuerr · censurerr · censurrer · cenusrer
  • centrer ← ccentrer · cenntrer · cenrter · centrerr · centrrer · centtrer · cetnrer · cnetrer

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "censurer" and "centrer" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\sɑ̃.sy.ʁe\ versus \sɑ̃.tʁe\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "censurer" or "centrer"?
"censurer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,512 in our French list, against #33,164 for "centrer". 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 "censurer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "centrer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #113,595 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "censurer" and "centrer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "centers vs centrer". 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 #113,595 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