Which to use
“declare” and “décrire” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #49,591
- “declare” frequency rank
- #4,751
- “décrire” frequency rank
- 54342
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | declare | décrire |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Déclarer. | Représenter, dépeindre dans son ensemble une personne, une chose, soit par écrit, soit de vive voix. |
Where the eye mixes declare and décrire
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. declare and décrire follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: declare vs décrire
A purely visual mix-up. declare ([dɪˈkleər]) and décrire (\de.kʁiʁ\) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54342, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
declare is recorded at frequency rank #49,591, classified as averb, pronounced [dɪˈkleər]. décrire is at rank #4,751, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.kʁiʁ\.
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 54342, this pair ranks #134,689 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of declare vs décrire
Shared letters: cder. Private to "declare": al. Private to "décrire": ié.
"declare" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV · "décrire" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- declare ← dcelare · ddeclare · decalre · decclare · declaer · declarre · decllare · declrae
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "declare" for "décrire" ever safe?
Which is more common, "declare" or "décrire"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "declare" and "décrire" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "declare" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "décrire" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #134,689 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "declare" and "décrire" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "declare vs déclarera". 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 #134,689 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.