steigvsstetigWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: steig is a verb, stetig is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“steig” is a verb and “stetig” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#17,420
“steig” frequency rank
#6,358
“stetig” frequency rank
23778
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature steig stetig
Definition 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs steigen kontinuierlich, zusammenhängend, ohne Unterbrechung

Where the eye mixes steig and stetig

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

5 ch
steig
6 ch
stetig

Visual trap between steig and stetig

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: steig is [ʃtaɪ̯k] while stetig is [ˈʃteːtɪç]. 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 23778, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

steig is recorded at frequency rank #17,420, classified as averb, pronounced [ʃtaɪ̯k]. stetig is at rank #6,358, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈʃteːtɪç].

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 23778, this pair ranks #1,856,717 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of steig vs stetig

Shared letters: egist. Private to "steig": -. Private to "stetig": -.

"steig" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC  ·  "stetig" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • steigsetig · ssteig · stegi · steigg · tseig
  • stetigsettig · sstetig · stetgi · stetigg · stettig · stteig · sttetig · tsetig

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "steig" and "stetig" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "steig" is a verb and "stetig" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "steig" or "stetig" show up more?
"stetig" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,358 in our German list, against #17,420 for "steig". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "steig" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "stetig" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,856,717 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "steig" and "stetig" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "seg vs steig". 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 #1,856,717 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