administratifvsadministratifsTell them apart

Which to use

“administratif” and “administratifs” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#4,117
“administratif” frequency rank
#7,514
“administratifs” frequency rank
11631
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature administratif administratifs
Definition Relatif à l’administration. Masculin pluriel de administratif.

Same sound, different letters: administratif vs administratifs

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 13 letters. administratif runs 13 letters (VCCVCVCCCVCVC) against administratifs's 14 (VCCVCVCCCVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

13 ch
administratif
14 ch
administratifs

Ear matches; page differs - administratif and administratifs

This is the hard kind. administratif and administratifs are pronounced identically (\ad.mi.nis.tʁa.tif\) and both work as anadjective. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “administratif” sits inside “administratifs”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11631, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

administratif is recorded at frequency rank #4,117, classified as anadj, pronounced \ad.mi.nis.tʁa.tif\. administratifs is at rank #7,514, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ad.mi.nis.tʁa.tif\.

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 11631, this pair ranks #408,423 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of administratif vs administratifs

Shared letters: adfimnrst. Private to "administratif": -. Private to "administratifs": -.

"administratif" · 13 letters · shape VCCVCVCCCVCVC  ·  "administratifs" · 14 letters · shape VCCVCVCCCVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • administratifaddministratif · adimnistratif · admiinstratif · adminisrtatif · adminisstratif · administartif · administraitf · administratfi
  • administratifsaddministratifs · adimnistratifs · admiinstratifs · adminisrtatifs · adminisstratifs · administartifs · administraitfs · administratfis

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "administratif" and "administratifs" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are pronounced the same (\ad.mi.nis.tʁa.tif\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
Frequency check: "administratif" vs "administratifs" - which ranks higher?
"administratif" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,117 in our French list, against #7,514 for "administratifs". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.

  • Full dictionary entry for "administratif" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "administratifs" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #408,423 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "administratif" and "administratifs" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "administratifs vs administrations". 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 #408,423 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list