Which to use
“speisen” and “steifen” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #7,989
- “speisen” frequency rank
- #22,517
- “steifen” frequency rank
- 30506
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | speisen | steifen |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | essen, Nahrung zu sich nehmen | etwas steif machen; anspannen |
Where the eye mixes speisen and steifen
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. speisen and steifen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between speisen and steifen
A purely visual mix-up. speisen ([ˈʃpaɪ̯zn̩]) and steifen ([ˈʃtaɪ̯fn̩]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30506, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
speisen is recorded at frequency rank #7,989, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈʃpaɪ̯zn̩]. steifen is at rank #22,517, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈʃtaɪ̯fn̩].
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 30506, this pair ranks #1,746,510 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of speisen vs steifen
Shared letters: eins. Private to "speisen": p. Private to "steifen": ft.
"speisen" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCVC · "steifen" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "speisen" and "steifen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "speisen" or "steifen"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "speisen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "steifen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,746,510 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "speisen" and "steifen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "steifen vs Stilen". 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 #1,746,510 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.