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 spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set Administration and administrative apart are highlighted. They share 12 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
Administration and administrative form a confusable pair in the German index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. 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.
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "Administration" and "administrative" be used interchangeably?
Remembering Administration vs administrative
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “Administration”; for an adjective, it's “administrative”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “Administration” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable