Which to use
“Seile” is a noun and “steife” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #21,766
- “Seile” frequency rank
- #44,248
- “steife” frequency rank
- 66014
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Seile | steife |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Variante für den Dativ Singular des Substantivs Seil | Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs steif |
Where the eye mixes Seile and steife
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Seile runs 5 letters (CVVCV) against steife's 6 (CCVVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses Seile with steife
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Seile is [ˈzaɪ̯lə] while steife is [ˈʃtaɪ̯fə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 66014, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Seile is recorded at frequency rank #21,766, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈzaɪ̯lə]. steife is at rank #44,248, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈʃtaɪ̯fə].
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 66014, this pair ranks #587,418 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of Seile vs steife
Shared letters: eis. Private to "Seile": l. Private to "steife": ft.
"Seile" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV · "steife" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "Seile" for "steife" ever safe?
Frequency check: "Seile" vs "steife" - 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 "Seile" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "steife" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #587,418 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Seile" and "steife" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "steife vs Stele". 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 #587,418 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.