stabilervssteilerWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#17,418
“stabiler” frequency rank
#34,383
“steiler” frequency rank
51801
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature stabiler steiler
Definition Nominativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs stabil Nominativ Singular Maskulinum Positiv der starken Flexion des Adjektivs steil

Where the eye mixes stabiler and steiler

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

8 ch
stabiler
7 ch
steiler

Visual trap between stabiler and steiler

A purely visual mix-up. stabiler ([ʃtaˈbiːlɐ]) and steiler ([ˈʃtaɪ̯lɐ]) 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 51801, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

stabiler is recorded at frequency rank #17,418, classified as anadj, pronounced [ʃtaˈbiːlɐ]. steiler is at rank #34,383, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈʃtaɪ̯lɐ].

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 51801, this pair ranks #1,121,500 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of stabiler vs steiler

Shared letters: eilrst. Private to "stabiler": ab. Private to "steiler": -.

"stabiler" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCVC  ·  "steiler" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • stabilersatbiler · sstabiler · stabbiler · stabielr · stabilerr · stabiller · stabilre · stablier
  • steilersetiler · ssteiler · steielr · steilerr · steiller · steilre · stelier · stieler

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "stabiler" and "steiler" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ʃtaˈbiːlɐ] versus [ˈʃtaɪ̯lɐ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "stabiler" or "steiler"?
"stabiler" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,418 in our German list, against #34,383 for "steiler". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "stabiler" and "steiler" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "stabiler" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "steiler" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,121,500 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "stabiler" and "steiler" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "steiler 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 #1,121,500 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