Using Steal or Steel, Commonly Confused Words

The words steal and steel are  homophones: they sound alike but have different meanings. Definitions The verb steal means to take someone elses property without right or permission. Steal also means  to come or go secretly, without being noticed. As both a noun and an adjective, steel refers to a hard alloy of iron and carbon. Used figuratively, steel means hard, strong, and tough. As a verb, steel means to strengthen. Examples The number one rule of thieves is that nothing is too small to steal.(Jimmy Breslin)He was too shiftless to go out  and look for another job; he didnt have the initiative to steal, and after she had told him three or four times to do a thing, he did it; but he never told her about a sick cow until it was too late to call the veterinarian, and if her barn had caught on fire he would have called his wife to see the flames before he began to put them out.(Flannery OConnor, Greenleaf. The Kenyon Review, 1957)As I lay on my bed for hours, watching darkness  steal into the  room, I let my thoughts wander uninterrupted: the days ahead, places I had traveled, people I had known.(Susan Allen Toth,  Leaning Into the Wind: A Memoir of Midwest Weather. University of Minnesota Press, 2003)Blues singer Brownie McGhee played with a steel pick on a steel guitar.His hair fell down in black curls, and my head was covered with black steel wool.(May Angelou,  I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. R andom House, 1969)Curling his hands into fists, Luca tried to  steel himself  for a fight, but already he knew it was pointless. Rifle or not, Stang was a giant of a man and Luca wouldnt stand a chance in a fistfight.(Patrick Woodhead, Beneath the Ice. Random House, 2015) Idiom Alerts The expression steal away means to move quietly and secretly.The prime minister of Bayern, the kingdom on the other side of the mountains, had been visiting at the time, and all wary-eyed parties were so busy entertaining road-weary dignitaries that Ani had been able to  steal away to  the stables a few times to bring to pass a childhood wish.(Shannon Hale, The Goose Girl.  Bloomsbury, 2003)The expressions  steal the show  and  steal the spotlight  both mean to be the center of attention at an event.People in Hollywood always said, Never act with kids or animals. Theyre impossible to work with, and then they look so cute onscreen that they  steal the show.(Arnold Schwarzenegger, Total Recall. Simon Schuster, 2012) Practice Exercises (a) The gym was hung with orange and black crepe paper in honor of Halloween, and the pennants of all the competing schools were fastened to the walls, and a twelve-piece band pumped away blissfully on the years sad tunes — Heartaches, Near You, Thats My Desire. A great cloud of balloons gathered in the _____ girders was released. There was pink punch, and a local girl sang.(John Updike, Flight.  The Early Stories: 1953-1975. Alfred A. Knopf, 2003) (b) She liked to drag her fingers along the chain-link fences we passed, and to stop at Maverick Market to buy Diet Cokes and _____ candy bars. I waited outside, worrying shed get caught.(Bret Anthony Johnston, Soldier of Fortune. Glimmer Train, Winter 2011) Answers to Practice Exercises (a) The gym was hung with orange and black crepe paper in honor of Halloween, and the pennants of all the competing schools were fastened to the walls, and a twelve-piece band pumped away blissfully on the years sad tunes — Heartaches, Near You, Thats My Desire. A great cloud of balloons gathered in the steel girders was released. There was pink punch, and a local girl sang.(John Updike, Flight.  The Early Stories: 1953-1975. Alfred A. Knopf, 2003) (b) She liked to drag her fingers along the chain-link fences we passed, and to stop at Maverick Market to buy Diet Cokes and steal  candy  bars. I waited outside, worrying shed get caught.(Bret Anthony Johnston, Soldier of Fortune.  Glimmer Train, Winter 2011)