Which to use
“veto” and “vets” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #12,165
- “veto” frequency rank
- #14,865
- “vets” frequency rank
- 27030
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | veto | vets |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A political right to disapprove of (and thereby stop) the process of a decision, a law etc. | plural of vet |
Where the eye mixes veto and vets
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
A purely visual mix-up. veto (/ˈviːtəʊ/) 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 differ by a single letter - o in “veto” becomes s in “vets”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27030, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
veto is recorded at frequency rank #12,165, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈviːtəʊ/. 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 27030, this pair ranks #382,174 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of veto vs vets
Shared letters: etv. Private to "veto": o. Private to "vets": s.
"veto" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "vets" · 4 letters · shape CVCC