The term “divider” is most often used when the incoming signal will be split evenly across all outputs. For example, if there are two output ports, each would get slightly less than half of the input signal, ideally -3 dB compared to the input signal. If there are four output ports, each port would get about one-quarter of the signal, or -6 dB compared to the input signal.

When 2:1 dividers or combiners are cascaded together, the original signal can be split over many output ports. For example, in some high power solid state amplifiers that replace vacuum tubes, as many as 12 amplifiers might be combined.  If you fed one port on a 12-way divider you would see over 20 dB loss to the common port. But if you fed all 12 ports with equal amplitude signals as a combiner, the real loss might just be a few dB. There are also components that are 1:3 or 1:4 dividers. That is, they divide power from a single source over 3 or 4 outputs using just one component. In the case of a three-way divider, there are direct ways of achieving multiple ports without cascading 2:1 structures.