Which to use
“veil” and “veto” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #11,994
- “veil” frequency rank
- #12,165
- “veto” frequency rank
- 24159
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | veil | veto |
|---|---|---|
| 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 political right to disapprove of (and thereby stop) the process of a decision, a law etc. |
Where the eye mixes veil and veto
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
A purely visual mix-up. veil (/veɪl/) and veto (/ˈviːtəʊ/) 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 24159, 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/. veto is at rank #12,165, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈviːtəʊ/.
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 24159, this pair ranks #404,029 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of veil vs veto
Shared letters: ev. Private to "veil": il. Private to "veto": ot.
"veil" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "veto" · 4 letters · shape CVCV