Which to use
“declaring” and “declining” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #9,314
- “declaring” frequency rank
- #9,161
- “declining” frequency rank
- 18475
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | declaring | declining |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | present participle and gerund of declare | present participle and gerund of decline |
Where the eye mixes declaring and declining
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between declaring and declining
A purely visual mix-up. declaring (/dɪˈklɛɹɪŋ/) and declining (/dɪˈklaɪnɪŋ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18475, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
declaring is recorded at frequency rank #9,314, classified as averb, pronounced /dɪˈklɛɹɪŋ/. declining is at rank #9,161, tagged as averb, pronounced /dɪˈklaɪnɪŋ/.
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 18475, this pair ranks #444,659 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of declaring vs declining
Shared letters: cdegiln. Private to "declaring": ar. Private to "declining": -.
"declaring" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVCC · "declining" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "declaring" and "declining" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "declaring" vs "declining" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "declaring" and "declining" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "declaring" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "declining" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #444,659 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "declaring" and "declining" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "declining vs detaining". 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 #444,659 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.