vegetable

/ˈvɛd͡ʒ.tə.bəl/

//ˈvɛd͡ʒ.tə.bəl// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"vegetable" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“vegetable” has 14 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #7,869. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#7,869
frequency rank, English
969
“V” headwords
14
tracked misspellings
3
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Any plant.

Corpus desk

Index EN-vegetable · vegetable · English

vegetable · rank #7,869 · 14 variants · 3 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #7,869
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-LOW 3 pairs
  • VAR-HIGH 14 variants
  • BOOK-MID 969
  • PHOTO-FINISH varies

Nearest frequency peer: varies (-1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Rank peers near misspelling magnet “vegetable”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

What this shows “vegetable” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

vegetable vs venerable
78% similar
vegetable vs veritable
78% similar
vegetable vs vegetables
90% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for vegetable
PropertyValue
Headwordvegetable
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈvɛd͡ʒ.tə.bəl/
Letters9
Frequency rank#7,869
Misspellings tracked14
Confusable pairs3
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “vegetable”

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).vegetablelands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Same rarity band neighbours include “varies” (#7,868), “verified” (#7,870), “und” (#7,867). Among 969 “V” headwords, “vegetable” is #7,869. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 14 spelling variants around vegetable (IPA /ˈvɛd͡ʒ.tə.bəl/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #7,869 among 969 “V” headwords. Wiktionary lists 5 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 14 likely wrong-spelling variants for vegetable, with forms such as "evgetable", "veegtable", and "vegeatble". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 3 confusable-pair relationships, "venerable", "veritable", "vegetables", a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English vegetable, from Old French vegetable, from Latin vegetābilis (“able to live and grow”), derived from vegetāre (“to enliven”). Displaced Old English wyrt and ofett. Related to vigil, vigour, vajra, and waker. The correct English form is vegetable, spelled V-E-G-E-T-A-B-L-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Any plant.
  2. 2
    A plant raised for some edible part of it, such as the leaves, roots, fruit or flowers, but excluding any plant considered to be a fruit, grain, herb, or spice in the culinary sense.
  3. 3
    The edible part of such a plant.
  4. 4
    A person whose brain (or, infrequently, whose body) has been damaged to the point that they cannot interact with the surrounding environment; a person in a persistent vegetative state.
  5. 5
    A mine (explosive device).

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how vegetable appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. That he might ascertain whether any of the cloths of ancient Egypt were made of hemp, M. Dutrochet has examined with the microscope the weavable filaments of this last vegetable.
  2. The first of the tall trees was reached, and by the bearings proved the wrong one. So with the second. The third rose nearly two hundred feet into the air above a clump of underwood — a giant of a vegetable, with a red column as big as a cottage, and a wide shadow around in which a company could have manoeuvred.

Etymology

From Middle English vegetable, from Old French vegetable, from Latin vegetābilis (“able to live and grow”), derived from vegetāre (“to enliven”). Displaced Old English wyrt and ofett. Related to vigil, vigour, vajra, and waker.

Synonyms

vegetable

This word in other languages

verdura(Español)légume(Français)Gemüse(Deutsch)hortaliça(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • evgetable
  • veegtable
  • vegeatble
  • vegetabble
  • vegetabel
  • vegetablle
  • vegetalbe
  • vegetbale
  • vegetible
  • vegettable
  • veggetable
  • vegteable
  • vgeetable
  • vvegetable

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of vegetable - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

evgetable2veegtable2vegeatble2vegetabble1vegetabel2vegetablle1vegetalbe2vegetbale2
Edit distance from "vegetable"

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "vegetable"?
"vegetable" is spelled V-E-G-E-T-A-B-L-E. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈvɛd͡ʒ.tə.bəl/.
What does "vegetable" mean?
As a noun, "vegetable" means: Any plant.
What words are commonly confused with "vegetable"?
"vegetable" is commonly confused with "venerable", "veritable", "vegetables". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "vegetable"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "vegetable" is /ˈvɛd͡ʒ.tə.bəl/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "vegetable"?
From Middle English vegetable, from Old French vegetable, from Latin vegetābilis (“able to live and grow”), derived from vegetāre (“to enliven”). Displaced Old English wyrt and ofett. Related to vigil, vigour, vajra, and waker. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "vegetable", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

workforce#7,875terrified#7,859butterfly#7,891recipient#7,838

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (14 here; floor ≥5).

directory14 variantsdischarge14 variantsHenderson14 variantssanctuary14 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list