Background- Report on stillbirth and early neonatal deaths are susceptible for misreporting,rnmisclassification and omission. The distinction between the two events is that the presence ofrnfaint sign of life after delivery. The accuracy and reliability of intrapartum mortality data is veryrnessential for preventing deaths. There is evidence gap in knowing the exact magnitude andrnreason behind misclassification of very early neonatal death. rnObjective- To assess Level of and reasons for misclassification of very early neonatal death intornstillbirth from March, 2018 to March, 2019 in public hospitals of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. rnMethod- Cross sectional study with qualitative and quantitative method was conducted amongrnstillbirths and health care providers. 410 still births datawere collected from selected hospitalsrnregistration. Verbal autopsy was conducted among mothers who had stillbirth through householdrnvisits. The collected data was reviewed by three coders. Disagreement on cause of death amongrntwo initials coders were resolved by third physicianâ€™s independent assessment. In depthrninterview was conducted among health care providers. The magnitude of misclassification wasrndefined as percentage of stillbirth reported in HMIS registration book that was later classified asrnearly neonatal death in verbal autopsy data. Frequency distribution and cross tabulation was donernto measure the level of misclassification. Bivariate and multivariate analysis was done to see thernassociation between misclassification status and health care provider characteristic. Qualitativerndata was analyzed using thematic analysis.rnResult: The level of misclassification of very early neonatal death into still birth was 8.54%rn(35/410). Denial of safe traditional practice was significantly associated with misclassificationrnof very early neonatal deaths, [AOR =0.21; 95% CI =0.05-0.93]. We found that confusion inrnunderstanding of the exact definition of perinatal loss, fear of blame, work load and medico legalrnissues drive health care providers to misclassify very early neonatal death into stillbirth at healthrnfacility level. rnConclusion and recommendation: This study shows significant number of very early neonatalrndeath are misclassified into stillbirth. It also describes driving factors for misclassification suchrnas personal, health facility and system related factor. Standard cause of death classificationrntraining, creating culture of accountability and favorable working environment are essential tornprevent misclassification of very early neonatal death which occur immediately after birth.