Which to use
“administration” is a noun and “administrative” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,240
- “administration” frequency rank
- #3,274
- “administrative” frequency rank
- 4514
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | administration | administrative |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The act of administering; government of public affairs; the service rendered, or duties assumed, in conducting affairs; the conducting of any office or employment; direction. | Of or relating to administering or administration. |
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 English 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 4514, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
administration is recorded at frequency rank #1,240, classified as anoun, pronounced /ədˌmɪnəˈstɹeɪʃən/. administrative is at rank #3,274, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ədˈmɪn.ɪ.stɹə.tɪv/.
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 4514, this pair ranks #518,673 of 530,003 scored English 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