machinevsSteeleWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: machine is a noun, Steele is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“machine” is a noun and “Steele” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#12,337
“machine” frequency rank
#29,801
“Steele” frequency rank
42138
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature machine Steele
Definition ein Apparat mit vielen beweglichen Teilen; gestaltet um eine Aufgabe zu erfüllen. deutschsprachiger Nachname, Familienname

Letter map: machine vs Steele

Shared letters muted; letters that set machine and Steele apart highlighted. Shared run: 1. machine runs 7 letters (CVCCVCV) against Steele's 6 (CCVVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
machine
6 ch
Steele

Role in the sentence - machine and Steele

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: machine is anoun and Steeleaname. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42138, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

machine is recorded at frequency rank #12,337, classified as anoun, pronounced […]. Steele is at rank #29,801, tagged as aname, pronounced […].

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 42138, this pair ranks #1,458,443 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of machine vs Steele

Shared letters: e. Private to "machine": achimn. Private to "Steele": lst.

"machine" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV  ·  "Steele" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • machineamchine · macchine · machhine · machien · machinne · machnie · macihne · mahcine
  • Steelesetele · ssteele · steeel · steelle · stelee · stteele · tseele

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "machine" and "Steele" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "machine" is a noun and "Steele" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "machine" or "Steele" show up more?
"machine" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,337 in our German list, against #29,801 for "Steele". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "machine" and "Steele".

  • Full dictionary entry for "machine" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Steele" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,458,443 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "machine" and "Steele" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "puzzles vs Steele". 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 #1,458,443 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