# declining vs defining

> English confusable word pair

## The two words

### declining
*verb · IPA /dɪˈklaɪnɪŋ/ · frequency rank #9,161*
present participle and gerund of decline

### defining
*adjective · frequency rank #7,554*
Serving to define or distinguish.

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/vs/declining-vs-defining