négative

\ne.ɡa.tiv\

/\ne.ɡa.tiv\/ noun

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

The verdict

“négative” has 12 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #6,221. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#6,221
frequency rank, French
1,563
“N” headwords
12
tracked misspellings
6
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Se dit de toute proposition par laquelle on nie.

Corpus desk

Index FR-negative · négative · French

négative · rank #6,221 · 12 variants · 6 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #6,221
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 6 pairs
  • VAR-MID 12 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,563
  • PHOTO-FINISH nommée

Nearest frequency peer: nommée (-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.

Pairs de rang près de l'aimant d'erreurs « négative »

Même bande de rareté: utile si une faute tombe sur un lemme voisin

corpus weight

What this shows « négative » siège parmi ces pairs FrequencyWords; la profondeur des fautes est suivie à part dans le graphique d'édition.

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).

négative vs négatives
89% similar
négative vs négativité
70% similar
négative vs native
75% similar

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

Key facts for négative
PropertyValue
Headwordnégative
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ne.ɡa.tiv\
Letters8
Frequency rank#6,221
Misspellings tracked12
Confusable pairs6
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « négative »

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.négativese place ici:

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

L'axe est logarithmique: chaque tic marque environ dix fois moins de fréquence. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « nommée » (#6,220), « obtenus » (#6,222), « opérateurs » (#6,223). Parmi 1,563 lemmes en « N », « négative » est au #6,221. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 12 spelling variants around négative (IPA \ne.ɡa.tiv\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #6,221 among 1,563 “N” headwords. Dominant gloss: "Se dit de toute proposition par laquelle on nie.".

Our generated misspelling index lists 12 likely wrong-spelling variants for négative, with forms such as "negative", "ngéative", and "nnégative". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 6 confusable-pair relationships, "négatives", "négativité", "native", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct French form is négative, spelled N-É-G-A-T-I-V-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Se dit de toute proposition par laquelle on nie.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how négative appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Il était clair que je n'avais pas le droit de répondre par la négative.
  2. Trois fois qu’elle pose sa main en couvercle sur son verre, ongles faits, ombré rose nickel, à plat, sans trembler, mix de grâce et de fermeté, esquissant du menton la négative.

Antonyms

affirmative

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • negative
  • ngéative
  • nnégative
  • néagtive
  • négaitve
  • négatiev
  • négativve
  • négattive
  • négatvie
  • néggative
  • négtaive
  • éngative

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of négative - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

negative1ngéative2nnégative1néagtive2négaitve2négatiev2négativve1négattive1
Edit distance from "négative"

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 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "négative"?
"négative" is spelled N-É-G-A-T-I-V-E. The IPA pronunciation is \ne.ɡa.tiv\.
What does "négative" mean?
As a noun, "négative" means: Se dit de toute proposition par laquelle on nie.
What words are commonly confused with "négative"?
"négative" is commonly confused with "négatives", "négativité", "native". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "négative"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "négative" is \ne.ɡa.tiv\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "négative" come from?
"négative" is a French word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
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 French words by spelling shape

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

Same letter count

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

Illusion#6,202harmonie#6,199handicap#6,198souffert#6,244

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (12 here; floor ≥5).

ressentir12 variantsinstallée12 variantsfigurent12 variantsfichiers12 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list