declararvsdeclinarWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“declarar” and “declinar” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#6,400
“declarar” frequency rank
#38,656
“declinar” frequency rank
45056
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature declarar declinar
Definition dizer, expressar, manifestar eximir-se a, desistir de, recusar (convites, encargos, etc.)

Letter map: declarar vs declinar

Shared letters muted; letters that set declarar and declinar apart highlighted. Shared run: 6.

8 ch
declarar
8 ch
declinar

Corpus notes: declarar and declinar

declarar and declinar are indexed as a confusable Portuguese pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45056, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

declarar is recorded at frequency rank #6,400, classified as averb. declinar is at rank #38,656, tagged as averb, pronounced /dɨ.kli.ˈnaɾ/.

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 45056, this pair ranks #20,376 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of declarar vs declinar

Shared letters: acdelr. Private to "declarar": -. Private to "declinar": in.

"declarar" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC  ·  "declinar" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • declarardcelarar · ddeclarar · decalrar · decclarar · declaarr · declararr · declarra · declarrar
  • declinardcelinar · ddeclinar · decclinar · decilnar · declianr · declinarr · declinnar · declinra

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "declarar" and "declinar" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "declarar" vs "declinar" - which ranks higher?
"declarar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,400 in our Portuguese list, against #38,656 for "declinar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

You've compared "declarar" and "declinar". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "declarar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "declinar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #20,376 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "declarar" and "declinar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "declinar vs delirar". 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 #20,376 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list