Which to use
“declaring” is a verb and “delaying” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #9,314
- “declaring” frequency rank
- #17,342
- “delaying” frequency rank
- 26656
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | declaring | delaying |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | present participle and gerund of declare | A delay. |
Letter map: declaring vs delaying
Shared letters muted; letters that set declaring and delaying apart highlighted. Shared run: 7.
Grammar separator: declaring vs delaying
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: declaring is averb and delayinganoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26656, 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/. delaying is at rank #17,342, tagged as anoun.
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 26656, this pair ranks #385,080 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of declaring vs delaying
Shared letters: adegiln. Private to "declaring": cr. Private to "delaying": y.
"declaring" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVCC · "delaying" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "declaring" for "delaying" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "declaring" or "delaying" show up more?
What to do next
Pair "declaring" vs "delaying" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "declaring" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "delaying" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #385,080 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "declaring" and "delaying" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "delaying vs delving". 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 #385,080 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.