vetoedvsvettedWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: vetoed is a verb, vetted is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“vetoed” is a verb and “vetted” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#27,690
“vetoed” frequency rank
#27,329
“vetted” frequency rank
55019
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vetoed vetted
Definition simple past and past participle of veto Having undergone an investigation and been approved.

Letter map: vetoed vs vetted

Shared letters muted; letters that set vetoed and vetted apart highlighted. Shared run: 5. vetoed (CVCVVC) and vetted (CVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
vetoed
6 ch
vetted

Role in the sentence - vetoed and vetted

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: vetoed is averb and vettedanadjective. On the page they differ by a single letter - o in “vetoed” becomes t in “vetted”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55019, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

vetoed is recorded at frequency rank #27,690, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈviːtəʊd/. vetted is at rank #27,329, tagged as anadj.

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 55019, this pair ranks #136,748 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of vetoed vs vetted

Shared letters: detv. Private to "vetoed": o. Private to "vetted": -.

"vetoed" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC  ·  "vetted" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • vetoed ← evtoed · veoted · veteod · vetode · vetoedd · vettoed · vteoed · vvetoed
  • vetted ← evtted · veted · vetetd · vettde · vettedd · vteted · vvetted

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "vetoed" and "vetted" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "vetoed" is a verb and "vetted" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "vetoed" vs "vetted" - which ranks higher?
"vetted" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #27,329 in our English list, against #27,690 for "vetoed". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "vetoed" and "vetted".

  • Full dictionary entry for "vetoed" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "vetted" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #136,748 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "vetoed" and "vetted" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vetoed vs vexed". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #136,748 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list