Which to use
“steals” is a verb and “stealth” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #10,937
- “steals” frequency rank
- #14,424
- “stealth” frequency rank
- 25361
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | steals | stealth |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | third-person singular simple present indicative of steal | 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 steals and stealth
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between steals and stealth
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: steals is /stiːlz/ while stealth is /stɛlθ/. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25361, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
steals is recorded at frequency rank #10,937, classified as averb, pronounced /stiːlz/. 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 25361, this pair ranks #394,886 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of steals vs stealth
Shared letters: aelst. Private to "steals": -. Private to "stealth": h.
"steals" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCC · "stealth" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "steals" for "stealth" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "steals" or "stealth" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "steals" 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 #394,886 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "steals" and "stealth" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "steals vs stews". 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 #394,886 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.