Which to use
“Administration” is a noun and “administrative” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #10,992
- “Administration” frequency rank
- #25,876
- “administrative” frequency rank
- 36868
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Administration | administrative |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Verwaltung, Regierung, Exekutive (meist als inkorrekte Übersetzung für die US-amerikanische Regierung als so genannter falscher Freund; häufig auch in allgemeinen Konstruktionen im russischen Sprachraum vorkommend) | Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs administrativ |
Where the eye mixes Administration and administrative
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 12 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between Administration and administrative
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Administration is [atminɪstʁaˈt͡si̯oːn] while administrative is [atminɪstʁaˈtiːvə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36868, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Administration is recorded at frequency rank #10,992, classified as anoun, pronounced [atminɪstʁaˈt͡si̯oːn]. administrative is at rank #25,876, tagged as anadj, pronounced [atminɪstʁaˈtiːvə].
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 36868, this pair ranks #1,604,677 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of Administration vs administrative
Shared letters: adimnrst. Private to "Administration": o. Private to "administrative": ev.
"Administration" · 14 letters · shape VCCVCVCCCVCVVC · "administrative" · 14 letters · shape VCCVCVCCCVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- Administration ← addministration · adimnistration · admiinstration · adminisrtation · adminisstration · administartion · administraiton · administratino
- administrative ← addministrative · adimnistrative · admiinstrative · adminisrtative · adminisstrative · administartive · administraitve · administratiev
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "Administration" and "administrative" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "Administration" vs "administrative" - which ranks higher?
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 "Administration" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "administrative" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,604,677 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Administration" and "administrative" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "administrative vs administrativen". 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 #1,604,677 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.