A spectral sensor for checking a document of value which, upon the operation of the spectral sensor, is transported with a transport speed past the spectral sensor, comprising: - an illumination device with a multiplicity of light sources whose emission spectra (E1-E12) are different from each other, - a control device which is adapted to successively switch the multiplicity of light sources of the illumination device on and off upon the operation of the spectral sensor, in order to illuminate a region of the document of value with an illumination sequence of light pulses (P1-P12) with different emission spectra (E1-E12), and - an imaging optic by which the light emitted by the illumination device, upon the operation of the spectral sensor, is imaged onto the illuminated region of the document of value, by the imaging optic a clearly defined and spatially limited region of the document of value to be checked being illuminated, and - a detection device for detecting light which, upon the operation of the spectral sensor, emanates from the region illuminated with the light pulses (P1-P12) of the illumination sequence, the detection device being configured to detect for each of the light pulses (P1-P12) of the illumination sequence a measured value which corresponds to an intensity of the detected light, wherein the multiplicity of light sources cover a section of the near-infrared spectral range and/or a section of the visually visible spectral range in such a way that the spectral sensor, by the detection of the measured values, can record a spectral intensity distribution in the section of the near-infrared spectral range and/or in the section of the visually visible spectral range, wherein the multiplicity of light sources covers the red spectral range and/or the green spectral range and/or the blue spectral range and/or the near-infrared spectral range of 750 nm to 1000 nm in such a way that metameric colors (C1, C2), which can be contained in the illuminated region, can be distinguished from each other based on the spectral intensity distribution which the spectral sensor records upon the detection of the light emanating from the metameric color (C1, C2), wherein the multiplicity of light sources, for distinguishing the metameric colors, - cover the red spectral range and/or the green spectral range and/or the blue spectral range in such a way that in the respective spectral range there lie at least two different emission spectra (E1-E12) of the light sources and/or - cover the near-infrared spectral range of 750 nm to 1000 nm in such a way that in the respective spectral range there lie at least three different emission spectra of the light sources, and wherein the emission spectra of at least three of the light sources, which are spectrally adjacent to each other, spectrally overlap and/or have emission maxima respectively mutually different, whose spectral distance is no more than 60 nm, and wherein the spectral sensor is configured to distinguish the metameric colors from each other based on the recorded spectral intensity distributions which the spectral sensor records upon the detection of the light emanating from the metameric colors (C1, C2). - an illumination device with a multiplicity of light sources whose emission spectra (E1-E12) are different from each other, - a control device which is adapted to successively switch the multiplicity of light sources of the illumination device on and off upon the operation of the spectral sensor, in order to illuminate a region of the document of value with an illumination sequence of light pulses (P1-P12) with different emission spectra (E1-E12), and - an imaging optic by which the light emitted by the illumination device, upon the operation of the spectral sensor, is imaged onto the illuminated region of the document of value, by the imaging optic a clearly defined and spatially limited region of the document of value to be checked being illuminated, and - a detection device for detecting light which, upon the operation of the spectral sensor, emanates from the region illuminated with the light pulses (P1-P12) of the illumination sequence, the detection device being configured to detect for each of the light pulses (P1-P12) of the illumination sequence a measured value which corresponds to an intensity of the detected light, - cover the red spectral range and/or the green spectral range and/or the blue spectral range in such a way that in the respective spectral range there lie at least two different emission spectra (E1-E12) of the light sources and/or - cover the near-infrared spectral range of 750 nm to 1000 nm in such a way that in the respective spectral range there lie at least three different emission spectra of the light sources,