Which to use
“steife” is an adjective and “Steine” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #44,248
- “steife” frequency rank
- #3,850
- “Steine” frequency rank
- 48098
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | steife | Steine |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs steif | Variante für den Dativ Singular des Substantivs Stein |
Where the eye mixes steife and Steine
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. steife and Steine follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses steife with Steine
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: steife is [ˈʃtaɪ̯fə] while Steine is [ˈʃtaɪ̯nə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - f in “steife” becomes n in “Steine”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48098, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
steife is recorded at frequency rank #44,248, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈʃtaɪ̯fə]. Steine is at rank #3,850, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈʃtaɪ̯nə].
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 48098, this pair ranks #1,260,906 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of steife vs Steine
Shared letters: eist. Private to "steife": f. Private to "Steine": n.
"steife" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCV · "Steine" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "steife" and "Steine" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "steife" vs "Steine" - 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 "steife" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Steine" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,260,906 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "steife" and "Steine" 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 #1,260,906 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.