Sexual preference may also suggest a degree of voluntary choice, whereas sexual orientation is not a choice. A person who identifies as bisexual, for example, may sexually prefer one sex over the other.

The term sexual preference largely overlaps with sexual orientation, but is generally distinguished in psychological research. Androphilia describes sexual attraction to masculinity gynephilia describes the sexual attraction to femininity. Androphilia and gynephilia are terms used in behavioral science to describe sexual orientation as an alternative to a gender binary conceptualization. According to the American Psychological Association, sexual orientation 'also refers to a person's sense of identity based on those attractions, related behaviors, and membership in a community of others who share those attractions'. For example, people may use other labels, such as pansexual or polysexual, or none at all. These categories are aspects of the more nuanced nature of sexual identity and terminology. These attractions are generally subsumed under heterosexuality, homosexuality, and bisexuality, while asexuality (the lack of sexual attraction to others) is sometimes identified as the fourth category. Sexual orientation is an enduring pattern of romantic or sexual attraction (or a combination of these) to persons of the opposite sex or gender, the same sex or gender, or to both sexes or more than one gender.