The key functional units — displacement sensors of digital high-precision measuring instruments and equipment rely heavily on high-precision machining. To address this issue, a novel displacement sensing principle based on a combined measurement method is proposed. The alternating magnetic field produced using the uniform distribution of the excitation winding on the plane is utilized to establish a moving reference system. The mapping relation is obtained between the measured displacement and the time reference. Magnetic field is restricted by precisely controlling the shape of the induction winding to suppress harmonic errors in principle. The differential arrangement of the induction winding and a combined measurement method are employed to improve its anti-interference ability and the measurement precision. The measurement error is analyzed by using the electromagnetic simulation to optimize structural parameters. The sensor prototype is produced and tested in experiment. The results show that the error is ±2. 25 μm within the range of 144 mm, and the resolution is 0. 15 μm. Differing from traditional high-precision displacement sensors relying heavily on high-precision lithographic machining, the proposed method makes full use of precisely restricted and innovation in sensing principles to perform highprecision displacement measurement with the feature of simple in structure and low cost, which has the significant academic value and the high application value.