Which to use
“stehe” is a verb and “steife” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #2,179
- “stehe” frequency rank
- #44,248
- “steife” frequency rank
- 46427
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | stehe | steife |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs stehen | Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs steif |
Where the eye mixes stehe and steife
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between stehe and steife
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: stehe is [ˈʃteːə] 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 (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46427, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
stehe is recorded at frequency rank #2,179, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈʃteːə]. 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 46427, this pair ranks #1,319,487 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of stehe vs steife
Shared letters: est. Private to "stehe": h. Private to "steife": fi.
"stehe" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "steife" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "stehe" and "steife" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "stehe" or "steife" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "stehe" 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 #1,319,487 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "stehe" 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 #1,319,487 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.