steilervsStilenTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#34,383
“steiler” frequency rank
#49,273
“Stilen” frequency rank
83656
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature steiler Stilen
Definition Nominativ Singular Maskulinum Positiv der starken Flexion des Adjektivs steil Dativ Plural des Substantivs Stil

Where the eye mixes steiler and Stilen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. steiler runs 7 letters (CCVVCVC) against Stilen's 6 (CCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
steiler
6 ch
Stilen

Look-alike desk: steiler vs Stilen

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: steiler is [ˈʃtaɪ̯lɐ] while Stilen is [ˈʃtiːlən]. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 83656, 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]. Stilen is at rank #49,273, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈʃtiːlən].

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 83656, this pair ranks #136,302 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of steiler vs Stilen

Shared letters: eilst. Private to "steiler": r. Private to "Stilen": n.

"steiler" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCVC  ·  "Stilen" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • steiler ← setiler · ssteiler · steielr · steilerr · steiller · steilre · stelier · stieler
  • Stilen ← sitlen · sstilen · stieln · stilenn · stilne · stlien · sttilen · tsilen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "steiler" for "Stilen" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "steiler" is an adjective and "Stilen" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "steiler" or "Stilen"?
"steiler" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #34,383 in our German list, against #49,273 for "Stilen". 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 "steiler" and "Stilen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "steiler" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Stilen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #136,302 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "steiler" and "Stilen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Stilen vs Stuten". 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 #136,302 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