Which to use
“vegetable” and “vegetables” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #7,869
- “vegetable” frequency rank
- #5,645
- “vegetables” frequency rank
- 13514
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | vegetable | vegetables |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Any plant. | plural of vegetable |
Where the eye mixes vegetable and vegetables
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses vegetable with vegetables
A purely visual mix-up. vegetable (/ˈvɛd͡ʒ.tə.bəl/) and vegetables (/ˈvɛd͡ʒ.tə.bəlz/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “vegetable” sits inside “vegetables”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13514, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
vegetable is recorded at frequency rank #7,869, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈvɛd͡ʒ.tə.bəl/. vegetables is at rank #5,645, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈvɛd͡ʒ.tə.bəlz/.
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 13514, this pair ranks #475,356 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of vegetable vs vegetables
Shared letters: abegltv. Private to "vegetable": -. Private to "vegetables": s.
"vegetable" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCVCCV · "vegetables" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- vegetable ← evgetable · veegtable · vegeatble · vegetabble · vegetabel · vegetablle · vegetalbe · vegetbale
- vegetables ← evgetables · veegtables · vegeatbles · vegetabbles · vegetabels · vegetabless · vegetablles · vegetablse
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "vegetable" and "vegetables" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary English text, does "vegetable" or "vegetables" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "vegetable" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "vegetables" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #475,356 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "vegetable" and "vegetables" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vegetable vs veritable". 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 #475,356 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.