Which to use
“natives” and “négatives” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #38,442
- “natives” frequency rank
- #9,707
- “négatives” frequency rank
- 48149
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | natives | négatives |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin pluriel de natif. | Féminin pluriel de négatif. |
Where the eye mixes natives and négatives
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. natives runs 7 letters (CVCVCVC) against négatives's 9 (CVCVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between natives and négatives
A purely visual mix-up. natives (\na.tiv\) and négatives (\ne.ɡa.tiv\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48149, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
natives is recorded at frequency rank #38,442, classified as anadj, pronounced \na.tiv\. négatives is at rank #9,707, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ne.ɡa.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 48149, this pair ranks #181,250 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of natives vs négatives
Shared letters: aeinstv. Private to "natives": -. Private to "négatives": gé.
"natives" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC · "négatives" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- natives ← antives · naitves · natievs · nativess · nativse · nativves · nattives · natvies
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "natives" for "négatives" ever safe?
Which is more common, "natives" or "négatives"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "natives" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "négatives" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #181,250 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "natives" and "négatives" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "naïves vs natives". 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 #181,250 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.