steigertevssteinerneWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#19,403
“steigerte” frequency rank
#32,787
“steinerne” frequency rank
52190
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature steigerte steinerne
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs steigern Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs steinern

Where the eye mixes steigerte and steinerne

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.

9 ch
steigerte
9 ch
steinerne

Visual trap between steigerte and steinerne

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: steigerte is [ˈʃtaɪ̯ɡɐtə] while steinerne is [ˈʃtaɪ̯nɐnə]. 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 adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52190, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

steigerte is recorded at frequency rank #19,403, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈʃtaɪ̯ɡɐtə]. steinerne is at rank #32,787, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈʃtaɪ̯nɐnə].

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 52190, this pair ranks #1,106,558 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of steigerte vs steinerne

Shared letters: eirst. Private to "steigerte": g. Private to "steinerne": n.

"steigerte" · 9 letters · shape CCVVCVCCV  ·  "steinerne" · 9 letters · shape CCVVCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • steigertesetigerte · ssteigerte · stegierte · steiegrte · steigeret · steigerrte · steigertte · steigetre
  • steinernesetinerne · ssteinerne · steienrne · steinenre · steineren · steinerrne · steinnerne · steinrene

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "steigerte" and "steinerne" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "steigerte" is a verb and "steinerne" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "steigerte" vs "steinerne" - which ranks higher?
"steigerte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,403 in our German list, against #32,787 for "steinerne". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "steigerte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "steinerne" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,106,558 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "steigerte" and "steinerne" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "steinerne vs Steiners". 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 #1,106,558 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