steigevsstrikeTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#13,491
“steige” frequency rank
#16,295
“strike” frequency rank
29786
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature steige strike
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs steigen Schlag, Angriff

Where the eye mixes steige and strike

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
steige
6 ch
strike

Look-alike desk: steige vs strike

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: steige is [ˈʃtaɪ̯ɡə] while strike is [stɹaɪk]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29786, 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]. strike is at rank #16,295, tagged as anoun, pronounced [stɹaɪk].

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 29786, this pair ranks #1,760,332 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of steige vs strike

Shared letters: eist. Private to "steige": g. Private to "strike": kr.

"steige" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCV  ·  "strike" · 6 letters · shape CCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • steigesetige · ssteige · stegie · steieg · steigge · stteige · tseige
  • strikesrtike · sstrike · stirke · strikke · strkie · strrike · sttrike · tsrike

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "steige" and "strike" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "steige" is a verb and "strike" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "steige" or "strike" show up more?
"steige" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,491 in our German list, against #16,295 for "strike". 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 "steige" and "strike" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "steige" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "strike" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,760,332 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "steige" and "strike" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "strike vs strikes". 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 #1,760,332 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