veilvsveraWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“veil” and “vera” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#11,994
“veil” frequency rank
#11,149
“vera” frequency rank
23143
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature veil vera
Definition Something hung up or spread out to hide or protect the face, or hide an object from view; usually of gauze, crepe, or similar diaphanous material. A skin (rolling paper for cigarettes).

Where the eye mixes veil and vera

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
veil
4 ch
vera

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. veil (/veɪl/) and vera (/ˈvɪəɹə/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23143, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

veil is recorded at frequency rank #11,994, classified as anoun, pronounced /veɪl/. vera is at rank #11,149, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈvɪəɹə/.

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 23143, this pair ranks #411,438 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of veil vs vera

Shared letters: ev. Private to "veil": il. Private to "vera": ar.

"veil" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "vera" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • veilveill · veli · viel · vveil
  • veraevra · vear · verra · vrea · vvera

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "veil" and "vera" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/veɪl/ versus /ˈvɪəɹə/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "veil" or "vera"?
"vera" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,149 in our English list, against #11,994 for "veil". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list