steilervsstellenTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#34,383
“steiler” frequency rank
#370
“stellen” frequency rank
34753
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature steiler stellen
Definition Nominativ Singular Maskulinum Positiv der starken Flexion des Adjektivs steil senkrecht, mit den Füßen den Boden, einen bestimmten Platz oder Gegenstand berührend, in eine bestimmte oder übliche Position bringen

Where the eye mixes steiler and stellen

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

7 ch
steiler
7 ch
stellen

Visual trap between steiler and stellen

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: steiler is [ˈʃtaɪ̯lɐ] while stellen is [ˈʃtɛlən]. 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34753, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

steiler is recorded at frequency rank #34,383, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈʃtaɪ̯lɐ]. stellen is at rank #370, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈʃtɛlən].

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 34753, this pair ranks #1,656,095 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of steiler vs stellen

Shared letters: elst. Private to "steiler": ir. Private to "stellen": n.

"steiler" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCVC  ·  "stellen" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • steilersetiler · ssteiler · steielr · steilerr · steiller · steilre · stelier · stieler
  • stellensetllen · sstellen · steleln · stellenn · stellne · stlelen · sttellen · tsellen

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "steiler" and "stellen" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "steiler" is an adjective and "stellen" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "steiler" or "stellen"?
"stellen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #370 in our German list, against #34,383 for "steiler". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "steiler" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "stellen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,656,095 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "steiler" and "stellen" 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 #1,656,095 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