Which to use
“declared” and “delayed” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,723
- “declared” frequency rank
- #5,116
- “delayed” frequency rank
- 7839
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | declared | delayed |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of declare | simple past and past participle of delay |
Where the eye mixes declared and delayed
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses declared with delayed
A purely visual mix-up. declared (/dɪˈklɛəd/) and delayed (/dəˈleɪd/) 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 7839, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
declared is recorded at frequency rank #2,723, classified as averb, pronounced /dɪˈklɛəd/. delayed is at rank #5,116, tagged as averb, pronounced /dəˈleɪd/.
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 7839, this pair ranks #505,339 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of declared vs delayed
Shared letters: adel. Private to "declared": cr. Private to "delayed": y.
"declared" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC · "delayed" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "declared" and "delayed" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "declared" or "delayed" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "declared" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "delayed" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #505,339 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "declared" and "delayed" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "delayed vs delved". 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 #505,339 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.