negative

[ˈneːɡatiːvə]

/[ˈneːɡatiːvə]/ adj

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“negative” has 11 generated spelling variants in the German index at frequency #3,985. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#3,985
frequency rank, German
1,954
“N” headwords
11
tracked misspellings
6
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs negativ

Corpus desk

Index DE-negative · negative · German

negative · rank #3,985 · 11 variants · 6 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #3,985
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 6 pairs
  • VAR-MID 11 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,954
  • PHOTO-FINISH natürlichen

Nearest frequency peer: natürlichen (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Rang-Peers am Tippfehler-Magneten „negative“

Gleiche Seltenheitsbandbreite: nützlich, wenn ein Tippfehler auf ein Peer-Lemma trifft

corpus weight

What this shows „negative“ sitzt unter diesen FrequencyWords-Peers; die Tippfehlertiefe steht separat im Edit-Distance-Chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

negative vs negativen
89% similar
negative vs negatives
89% similar
negative vs negativer
89% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for negative
PropertyValue
Headwordnegative
LanguageGerman
Part of speechAdjective
IPA[ˈneːɡatiːvə]
Letters8
Frequency rank#3,985
Misspellings tracked11
Confusable pairs6
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Häufigkeitslage von Tippfehler-Magnet „negative“

Die Häufigkeit läuft von den wenigen Alltagswörtern (links) bis zur langen, seltenen Schwanzseite (rechts).negativeliegt hier neben dem Tippfehler-Druck:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Die Ticks laufen logarithmisch; jeder ist rund zehnmal seltener. Peers derselben Seltenheitsbandbreite: „natürlichen“ (#3,984), „Note“ (#3,986), „messen“ (#3,983). Unter 1,954 „N“-Lemmata liegt „negative“ bei #3,985. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 11 spelling variants around negative (IPA [ˈneːɡatiːvə]), anadjective. Corpus frequency is #3,985 among 1,954 “N” headwords. Wiktionary lists 9 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for negative, with forms such as "engative", "neagtive", and "negaitve". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 6 confusable-pair relationships, "negativen", "negatives", "negativer", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct German form is negative, spelled N-E-G-A-T-I-V-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs negativ
  2. 2
    Akkusativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs negativ
  3. 3
    Nominativ Plural alle Genera der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs negativ
  4. 4
    Akkusativ Plural alle Genera der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs negativ
  5. 5
    Nominativ Singular alle Genera der schwachen Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs negativ
  6. 6
    Akkusativ Singular Femininum der schwachen Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs negativ
  7. 7
    Akkusativ Singular Neutrum der schwachen Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs negativ
  8. 8
    Nominativ Singular Femininum der gemischten Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs negativ
  9. 9
    Akkusativ Singular Femininum der gemischten Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs negativ

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • engative
  • neagtive
  • negaitve
  • negatiev
  • negativve
  • negattive
  • negatvie
  • neggative
  • negtaive
  • ngeative
  • nnegative

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of negative - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

engative2neagtive2negaitve2negatiev2negativve1negattive1negatvie2neggative1
Edit distance from "negative"

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 German corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "negative"?
"negative" is spelled N-E-G-A-T-I-V-E. The IPA pronunciation is [ˈneːɡatiːvə].
What does "negative" mean?
As an adjective, "negative" means: Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs negativ
What words are commonly confused with "negative"?
"negative" is commonly confused with "negativen", "negatives", "negativer". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "negative"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "negative" is [ˈneːɡatiːvə]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "negative" come from?
"negative" is a German word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar German words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "negative", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Schülern#3,992Jenseits#3,974erzählte#3,958wünschte#4,013

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (11 here; floor ≥5).

Provinz11 variantsLandtag11 variantsseltsam11 variantstrocken11 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list