gesteigertevsgesteuerteTell them apart

Which to use

“gesteigerte” and “gesteuerte” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#34,693
“gesteigerte” frequency rank
#31,580
“gesteuerte” frequency rank
66273
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gesteigerte gesteuerte
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs gesteigert Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs gesteuert

Where the eye mixes gesteigerte and gesteuerte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. gesteigerte runs 11 letters (CVCCVVCVCCV) against gesteuerte's 10 (CVCCVVVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

11 ch
gesteigerte
10 ch
gesteuerte

Visual trap between gesteigerte and gesteuerte

A purely visual mix-up. gesteigerte ([ɡəˈʃtaɪ̯ɡɐtə]) and gesteuerte ([ɡəˈʃtɔɪ̯ɐtə]) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 66273, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gesteigerte is recorded at frequency rank #34,693, classified as anadj, pronounced [ɡəˈʃtaɪ̯ɡɐtə]. gesteuerte is at rank #31,580, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ɡəˈʃtɔɪ̯ɐtə].

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 66273, this pair ranks #578,759 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of gesteigerte vs gesteuerte

Shared letters: egrst. Private to "gesteigerte": i. Private to "gesteuerte": u.

"gesteigerte" · 11 letters · shape CVCCVVCVCCV  ·  "gesteuerte" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVVVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gesteigerteegsteigerte · gesetigerte · gessteigerte · gestegierte · gesteiegrte · gesteigeret · gesteigerrte · gesteigertte
  • gesteuerteegsteuerte · gesetuerte · gessteuerte · gesteeurte · gesteueret · gesteuerrte · gesteuertte · gesteuetre

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "gesteigerte" and "gesteuerte" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ɡəˈʃtaɪ̯ɡɐtə] versus [ɡəˈʃtɔɪ̯ɐtə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "gesteigerte" or "gesteuerte" show up more?
"gesteuerte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #31,580 in our German list, against #34,693 for "gesteigerte". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "gesteigerte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gesteuerte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #578,759 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gesteigerte" and "gesteuerte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gesteigerte vs gesteigerten". 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 #578,759 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list