Which to use
“native” and “natives” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #20,355
- “native” frequency rank
- #49,924
- “natives” frequency rank
- 70279
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | native | natives |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs nativ | Nominativ Singular Neutrum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs nativ |
Where the eye mixes native and natives
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: native vs natives
A purely visual mix-up. native ([naˈtiːvə]) and natives ([naˈtiːvəs]) 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 extra letter(s) - “native” sits inside “natives”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 70279, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
native is recorded at frequency rank #20,355, classified as anadj, pronounced [naˈtiːvə]. natives is at rank #49,924, tagged as anadj, pronounced [naˈtiːvəs].
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 70279, this pair ranks #451,095 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of native vs natives
Shared letters: aeintv. Private to "native": -. Private to "natives": s.
"native" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "natives" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "native" for "natives" ever safe?
Frequency check: "native" vs "natives" - 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 "native" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "natives" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #451,095 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "native" and "natives" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "naiver vs natives". 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 #451,095 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.