steal

[stiːl]

/[stiːl]/ noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“steal” is uncommon German (frequency #93,650 among 8,027 “S” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#93,650
frequency rank, German
8,027
“S” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - unberechtigte Wegnahme, Entwendung: Diebstahl

Corpus desk

Index DE-steal · steal · German

steal · rank #93,650 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #93,650
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 8,027
  • PHOTO-FINISH Steinadler

Nearest frequency peer: Steinadler (+1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Langschwanz-Ränge nahe „steal“

Dünnes Band: Balken invertieren den Rang, seltenere Formen wirken kürzer

corpus weight

What this shows Langschwanz-Sicht: wo „steal“ gegen ähnlich seltene deutsche Ränge sitzt.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for steal
PropertyValue
Headwordsteal
LanguageGerman
Part of speechNoun
IPA[stiːl]
Letters5
Frequency rank#93,650
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Langschwanz-Rang von „steal“ im Deutschen

Von links nach rechts: die wenigen Träger des Alltags, dann der lange Schwanz kaum gebrauchter Formen.stealfällt in diesen Seltenheitsbereich:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Die Skala ist logarithmisch (jeder Tick ≈ 10× seltener). Seltene Nachbarn derselben Bandbreite: „Steinadler“ (#93,651), „starks“ (#93,648), „stellar“ (#93,652). Unter 8,027 „S“-Lemmata liegt „steal“ bei #93,650. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

steal is uncommon German at frequency #93,650 among 8,027 “S” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed [stiːl]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

Zero misspellings are on record for steal in our index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

No documented word history exists for this headword, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct German form is steal, spelled S-T-E-A-L.

Definition

  1. 1
    unberechtigte Wegnahme, Entwendung: Diebstahl
  2. 2
    Ware mit niedrigem Preis: Schnäppchen

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how steal appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. “[…] it is impossible that Flack could organise a steal at such short notice.”
  2. It's a steal.

Synonyms

larcenytheftbargain

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 German corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "steal"?
"steal" is spelled S-T-E-A-L. The IPA pronunciation is [stiːl].
What does "steal" mean?
As a noun, "steal" means: unberechtigte Wegnahme, Entwendung: Diebstahl
How do you pronounce "steal"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "steal" is [stiːl]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "steal" come from?
"steal" is a German word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar German words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "steal", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Sikhs#93,594verbo#93,773samar#93,521vixen#93,804

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list