Steal or steel?
steal is a verb meaning “To take illegally, or without the owner's permission, something owned by…”; steel is a noun meaning “An artificial metal produced from iron, harder and more elastic than elemental…”. Use steal as a verb and steel as a noun (steel is also a verb: “To edge, cover, or point with steel”). They sound the same (/stiːl/). In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) steel is about 2.0 times as common as steal.
What is the difference between steal and steel?
| steal | steel | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | verb, noun | noun, adjective, verb |
| Meaning | To take illegally, or without the owner's permission, something owned by someone else without intending to return it To appropriate without giving credit or acknowledgement The act of stealing | An artificial metal produced from iron, harder and more elastic than elemental iron; used figuratively as a symbol of hardness Bladed or pointed weapons, as swords, javelins, daggers Made of steel |
| Example | Three irreplaceable paintings were stolen from the gallery | Þe alle þine leomen wule to-draȝen. þeh þu weore stel al |
| Forms | steals, stealing, stole, stolen | steels |
| Pronunciation | /stiːl/ | /stiːl/ [stiːɫ] |
| In writing | 26 times per million words | 51 times per million words |
Sources: steal and steel in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of steal and steel
steal
- 1
To take illegally, or without the owner's permission, something owned by someone else without intending to return it
Three irreplaceable paintings were stolen from the gallery
- 2
The act of stealing
- 3
To appropriate without giving credit or acknowledgement
They stole my idea for a biodegradable, disposable garbage de-odorizer
- 4
slangA piece of merchandise available at a very low, attractive price; the act of buying it
Near-synonyms: bargain, good value, value for money
- 5
To get or effect surreptitiously or artfully
He stole glances at the pretty woman across the street
- 6
A situation in which a defensive player actively takes possession of the ball or puck from the opponent's team
- 7
informalTo acquire at a low price
He stole the car for two thousand less than its book value
- 8
A stolen base
steel
- 1
An artificial metal produced from iron, harder and more elastic than elemental iron; used figuratively as a symbol of hardness
Þe alle þine leomen wule to-draȝen. þeh þu weore stel al
- 2
Made of steel
Strained in stel ger on steedes of might
- 3
To edge, cover, or point with steel
- 4
Bladed or pointed weapons, as swords, javelins, daggers
- 5
Similar to steel in color, strength, or the like; steely
- 6
To electroplate an item (particularly an engraving plate) with a layer of iron
- 7
A piece used for striking sparks from flint or ferrocerium
- 8
Of or belonging to the manufacture or trade in steel
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, steal or steel?
steal appears 26 times per million words; steel 51 times per million words.
steal 26 times per million wordssteel 51 times per million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search steal vs steel?
“steal vs steel” is searched about 3,600 times a month on Google and 120 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“steel vs steal”, “steal or steel”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.