vegetable
/ˈvɛd͡ʒ.tə.bəl/
"vegetable" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“vegetable” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #7,869 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #7,869
- frequency rank, English
- 9
- letters
- 14
- tracked misspellings
- 3
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Any plant.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | vegetable |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈvɛd͡ʒ.tə.bəl/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #7,869 |
| Misspellings tracked | 14 |
| Confusable pairs | 3 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “vegetable” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for vegetable is 9 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈvɛd͡ʒ.tə.bəl/. Corpus data places it at rank #7,869 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 5 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
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
- 1Any plant.
- 2A 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.
- 3The edible part of such a plant.
- 4A 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.
- 5A mine (explosive device).
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
This word in other languages
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.
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"?
What does "vegetable" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "vegetable"?
How do you pronounce "vegetable"?
What is the origin of the word "vegetable"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “vegetable”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is V-E-G-E-T-A-B-L-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈvɛd͡ʒ.tə.bəl/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “venerable” - see the side-by-side comparison. vegetable vs venerable
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.