Which to use
“declare” and “declared” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #6,555
- “declare” frequency rank
- #2,723
- “declared” frequency rank
- 9278
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | declare | declared |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To make clear, explain, interpret. | simple past and past participle of declare |
Where the eye mixes declare and declared
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses declare with declared
A purely visual mix-up. declare (/dɪˈklɛə/) and declared (/dɪˈklɛəd/) 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 extra letter(s) - “declare” sits inside “declared”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9278, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
declare is recorded at frequency rank #6,555, classified as averb, pronounced /dɪˈklɛə/. declared is at rank #2,723, tagged as averb, pronounced /dɪˈklɛəd/.
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 9278, this pair ranks #498,205 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of declare vs declared
Shared letters: acdelr. Private to "declare": -. Private to "declared": -.
"declare" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV · "declared" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "declare" and "declared" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "declare" or "declared"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "declare" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "declared" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #498,205 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "declare" and "declared" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "declare vs deflate". 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 #498,205 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.