steigevssteilerWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#13,491
“steige” frequency rank
#34,383
“steiler” frequency rank
47874
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature steige steiler
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs steigen Nominativ Singular Maskulinum Positiv der starken Flexion des Adjektivs steil

Where the eye mixes steige and steiler

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

6 ch
steige
7 ch
steiler

Look-alike desk: steige vs steiler

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: steige is [ˈʃtaɪ̯ɡə] while steiler is [ˈʃtaɪ̯lɐ]. 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 47874, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

steige is recorded at frequency rank #13,491, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈʃtaɪ̯ɡə]. steiler is at rank #34,383, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈʃtaɪ̯lɐ].

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 47874, this pair ranks #1,268,892 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of steige vs steiler

Shared letters: eist. Private to "steige": g. Private to "steiler": lr.

"steige" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCV  ·  "steiler" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • steigesetige · ssteige · stegie · steieg · steigge · stteige · tseige
  • steilersetiler · ssteiler · steielr · steilerr · steiller · steilre · stelier · stieler

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "steige" for "steiler" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "steige" is a verb and "steiler" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "steige" vs "steiler" - which ranks higher?
"steige" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,491 in our German list, against #34,383 for "steiler". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "steige" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "steiler" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,268,892 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "steige" and "steiler" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "steiler vs Stilen". 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 #1,268,892 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