Which to use
“steal” is a verb and “stealth” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #3,585
- “steal” frequency rank
- #14,424
- “stealth” frequency rank
- 18009
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | steal | stealth |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To take illegally, or without the owner's permission, something owned by someone else without intending to return it. | The attribute or characteristic of acting in secrecy, or in such a way that the actions are unnoticed or difficult to detect by others. |
Where the eye mixes steal and stealth
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. steal runs 5 letters (CCVVC) against stealth's 7 (CCVVCCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between steal and stealth
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: steal is /stiːl/ while stealth is /stɛlθ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “steal” sits inside “stealth”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18009, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
steal is recorded at frequency rank #3,585, classified as averb, pronounced /stiːl/. stealth is at rank #14,424, tagged as anoun, pronounced /stɛlθ/.
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 18009, this pair ranks #447,725 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of steal vs stealth
Shared letters: aelst. Private to "steal": -. Private to "stealth": h.
"steal" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC · "stealth" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "steal" and "stealth" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "steal" or "stealth"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "steal" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "stealth" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #447,725 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "steal" and "stealth" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "stealth vs stealthy". 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 #447,725 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.