Which to use
“administration” is a noun and “administrative” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #816
- “administration” frequency rank
- #4,118
- “administrative” frequency rank
- 4934
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | administration | administrative |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Action d’administrer ; direction ou conduite des affaires publiques ou particulières. | Féminin singulier de administratif. |
Where the eye mixes administration and administrative
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 12 letters in sequence. administration (VCCVCVCCCVCVVC) and administrative (VCCVCVCCCVCVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between administration and administrative
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: administration is \ad.mi.nis.tʁa.sjɔ̃\ while administrative is \ad.mi.nis.tʁa.tiv\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4934, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
administration is recorded at frequency rank #816, classified as anoun, pronounced \ad.mi.nis.tʁa.sjɔ̃\. administrative is at rank #4,118, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ad.mi.nis.tʁa.tiv\.
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 4934, this pair ranks #430,323 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of administration vs administrative
Shared letters: adimnrst. Private to "administration": o. Private to "administrative": ev.
"administration" · 14 letters · shape VCCVCVCCCVCVVC · "administrative" · 14 letters · shape VCCVCVCCCVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- administration ← addministration · adimnistration · admiinstration · adminisrtation · adminisstration · administartion · administraiton · administratino
- administrative ← addministrative · adimnistrative · admiinstrative · adminisrtative · adminisstrative · administartive · administraitve · administratiev
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "administration" and "administrative" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "administration" vs "administrative" - 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 "administration" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "administrative" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #430,323 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "administration" and "administrative" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "administrative vs administratrice". 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 #430,323 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.