vetovsVigoWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: veto is a noun, Vigo is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“veto” is a noun and “Vigo” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#12,165
“veto” frequency rank
#40,507
“Vigo” frequency rank
52672
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature veto Vigo
Definition A political right to disapprove of (and thereby stop) the process of a decision, a law etc. A number of places:

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set veto and Vigo apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
veto
4 ch
Vigo

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: veto is /ˈviːtəʊ/ while Vigo is /ˈviːɡəʊ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52672, 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/. Vigo is at rank #40,507, tagged as aname, pronounced /ˈviːɡəʊ/.

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 52672, this pair ranks #155,099 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of veto vs Vigo

Shared letters: ov. Private to "veto": et. Private to "Vigo": gi.

"veto" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "Vigo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • vetoevto · veot · vetto · vteo · vveto
  • Vigoivgo · vgio · viggo · viog · vvigo

Frequency comparison

veto#12,165
Vigo#40,507

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "veto" and "Vigo" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "veto" is a noun and "Vigo" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "veto" or "Vigo"?
"veto" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,165 in our English list, against #40,507 for "Vigo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering veto vs Vigo

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “veto”; for a name, it's “Vigo”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “veto” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list