steigevsSteineConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#13,491
“steige” frequency rank
#3,850
“Steine” frequency rank
17341
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature steige Steine
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs steigen Variante für den Dativ Singular des Substantivs Stein

Where the eye mixes steige and Steine

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

6 ch
steige
6 ch
Steine

Look-alike desk: steige vs Steine

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: steige is [ˈʃtaɪ̯ɡə] while Steine is [ˈʃtaɪ̯nə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - g in “steige” becomes n in “Steine”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17341, 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]. 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 17341, this pair ranks #1,928,240 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of steige vs Steine

Shared letters: eist. Private to "steige": g. Private to "Steine": n.

"steige" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCV  ·  "Steine" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • steigesetige · ssteige · stegie · steieg · steigge · stteige · tseige
  • Steinesetine · ssteine · steien · steinne · stenie · stiene · stteine · tseine

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "steige" and "Steine" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "steige" is a verb and "Steine" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "steige" or "Steine" show up more?
"Steine" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,850 in our German list, against #13,491 for "steige". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "steige" 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 #1,928,240 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "steige" and "Steine" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "steige vs steigst". 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 #1,928,240 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