stehevsSteuerWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: stehe is a verb, Steuer is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“stehe” is a verb and “Steuer” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#2,179
“stehe” frequency rank
#3,156
“Steuer” frequency rank
5335
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature stehe Steuer
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs stehen Vorrichtung zum Lenken eines Fahrzeuges

Where the eye mixes stehe and Steuer

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
stehe
6 ch
Steuer

Look-alike desk: stehe vs Steuer

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: stehe is [ˈʃteːə] while Steuer is [ˈʃtɔɪ̯ɐ]. 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 noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5335, 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]. Steuer is at rank #3,156, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈʃtɔɪ̯ɐ].

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 5335, this pair ranks #1,995,084 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of stehe vs Steuer

Shared letters: est. Private to "stehe": h. Private to "Steuer": ru.

"stehe" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV  ·  "Steuer" · 6 letters · shape CCVVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • stehesethe · sstehe · steeh · stehhe · sthee · sttehe · tsehe
  • Steuersetuer · ssteuer · steeur · steuerr · steure · stteuer · stueer · tseuer

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "stehe" for "Steuer" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "stehe" is a verb and "Steuer" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "stehe" or "Steuer" show up more?
"stehe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,179 in our German list, against #3,156 for "Steuer". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "stehe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Steuer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,995,084 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "stehe" and "Steuer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "steter vs Steuer". 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 #1,995,084 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