déclarentvsdécorentWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“déclarent” and “décorent” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#9,985
“déclarent” frequency rank
#48,459
“décorent” frequency rank
58444
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature déclarent décorent
Definition Troisième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent de déclarer. Troisième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent de décorer.

Where the eye mixes déclarent and décorent

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. déclarent runs 9 letters (CVCCVCVCC) against décorent's 8 (CVCVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
déclarent
8 ch
décorent

Look-alike desk: déclarent vs décorent

A purely visual mix-up. déclarent (\de.klaʁ\) and décorent (\de.kɔʁ\) 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 58444, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

déclarent is recorded at frequency rank #9,985, classified as averb, pronounced \de.klaʁ\. décorent is at rank #48,459, tagged as averb, pronounced \de.kɔʁ\.

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 58444, this pair ranks #109,052 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of déclarent vs décorent

Shared letters: cdenrté. Private to "déclarent": al. Private to "décorent": o.

"déclarent" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVCC  ·  "décorent" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "déclarent" and "décorent" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\de.klaʁ\ versus \de.kɔʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "déclarent" or "décorent" show up more?
"déclarent" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,985 in our French list, against #48,459 for "décorent". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "déclarent" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "décorent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #109,052 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "déclarent" and "décorent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "décorent vs déforment". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #109,052 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list