Thanks for clarifying and I do understand the technical difference but I will probably still out of habit say sharpening when referring to a steel.A steel straightens and unbends the edge at a microscopic level to make it straight again without removing any metal. A sharpener takes metal off to put the edge back on a blade. This is why you use a steel frequently, but only sharpen a knife when it's edge is actually degraded. It may be semantics, but using the correct terms for different things is a way to explain why you should use a steel often ie a steel is not a sharpener and it does a different job.
So even on my Wusthofs I should be ok with just using a steel on them every month or so?