vetsvsvotesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“vets” and “votes” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#14,865
“vets” frequency rank
#2,324
“votes” frequency rank
17189
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vets votes
Definition plural of vet plural of vote

Where the eye mixes vets and votes

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
vets
5 ch
votes

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. vets (/vɛts/) and votes (/vəʊts/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17189, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

vets is recorded at frequency rank #14,865, classified as anoun, pronounced /vɛts/. votes is at rank #2,324, tagged as anoun, pronounced /vəʊts/.

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 17189, this pair ranks #453,052 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of vets vs votes

Shared letters: estv. Private to "vets": -. Private to "votes": o.

"vets" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "votes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • vetsevts · vetss · vetts · vtes · vvets
  • votesovtes · voets · votess · votse · vottes · vtoes · vvotes

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "vets" and "votes" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/vɛts/ versus /vəʊts/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "vets" or "votes"?
"votes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,324 in our English list, against #14,865 for "vets". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list