Which to use
“veil” and “vets” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #11,994
- “veil” frequency rank
- #14,865
- “vets” frequency rank
- 26859
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | veil | vets |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | plural of vet |
Where the eye mixes veil and vets
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
A purely visual mix-up. veil (/veɪl/) and vets (/vɛts/) 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 26859, 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/. vets is at rank #14,865, tagged as anoun, pronounced /vɛts/.
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 26859, this pair ranks #383,477 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of veil vs vets
Shared letters: ev. Private to "veil": il. Private to "vets": st.
"veil" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "vets" · 4 letters · shape CVCC