SteinenvssteinerneTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#7,991
“Steinen” frequency rank
#32,787
“steinerne” frequency rank
40778
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Steinen steinerne
Definition eine Gemeinde in Baden-Württemberg, Deutschland Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs steinern

Where the eye mixes Steinen and steinerne

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. Steinen runs 7 letters (CCVVCVC) against steinerne's 9 (CCVVCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
Steinen
9 ch
steinerne

Look-alike desk: Steinen vs steinerne

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Steinen is [ˈʃtaɪ̯nən] while steinerne is [ˈʃtaɪ̯nɐnə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (name vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40778, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Steinen is recorded at frequency rank #7,991, classified as aname, pronounced [ˈʃtaɪ̯nən]. 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 40778, this pair ranks #1,498,565 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Steinen vs steinerne

Shared letters: einst. Private to "Steinen": -. Private to "steinerne": r.

"Steinen" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCVC  ·  "steinerne" · 9 letters · shape CCVVCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Steinen ← setinen · ssteinen · steienn · steinenn · steinnen · stenien · stienen · stteinen
  • steinerne ← setinerne · ssteinerne · steienrne · steinenre · steineren · steinerrne · steinnerne · steinrene

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Steinen" and "steinerne" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Steinen" is a name and "steinerne" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Steinen" or "steinerne" show up more?
"Steinen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,991 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.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Steinen" 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 #1,498,565 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Steinen" 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 #1,498,565 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