steifevsStreifeConfusable pair

Quick tell: steife is a adjective, Streife is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“steife” is an adjective and “Streife” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#44,248
“steife” frequency rank
#19,722
“Streife” frequency rank
63970
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature steife Streife
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs steif Personengruppe (von Militär, Polizei, Sicherheitsdienst), die Fahrten oder Gänge zwecks Kontrolle eines Bereichs durchführt

Where the eye mixes steife and Streife

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. steife runs 6 letters (CCVVCV) against Streife's 7 (CCCVVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
steife
7 ch
Streife

Look-alike desk: steife vs Streife

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: steife is [ˈʃtaɪ̯fə] while Streife is [ˈʃtʁaɪ̯fə]. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 63970, 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]. Streife is at rank #19,722, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈʃtʁaɪ̯fə].

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 63970, this pair ranks #657,922 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of steife vs Streife

Shared letters: efist. Private to "steife": -. Private to "Streife": r.

"steife" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCV  ·  "Streife" · 7 letters · shape CCCVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • steife ← setife · ssteife · stefie · steief · steiffe · stiefe · stteife · tseife
  • Streife ← srteife · sstreife · sterife · strefie · streief · streiffe · striefe · strreife

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "steife" and "Streife" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "steife" is an adjective and "Streife" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "steife" or "Streife" show up more?
"Streife" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,722 in our German list, against #44,248 for "steife". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "steife" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Streife" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #657,922 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "steife" and "Streife" 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 #657,922 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