veil

/veɪl/

//veɪl// noun

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

"veil" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“veil” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #11,994) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#11,994
frequency rank, English
969
“V” headwords
4
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Something hung up or spread out to hide or protect the face, or hide an object from view; usually of gauze, crepe, or similar diaphanous material.

Corpus desk

Index EN-veil · veil · English

veil · rank #11,994 · 4 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #11,994
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-LOW 4 variants
  • BOOK-MID 969
  • PHOTO-FINISH unofficial

Nearest frequency peer: unofficial (-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.

Frequency neighbours of confusable “veil”

Peers at similar corpus weight, separate from look-alike pairs below

corpus weight

What this shows Bars place “veil” against nearest ranked English headwords, not a reprint of the confusable-pair desk.

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).

veil vs vi
50% similar
veil vs via
50% similar
veil vs vol
50% similar

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

Key facts for veil
PropertyValue
Headwordveil
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/veɪl/
Letters4
Frequency rank#11,994
Misspellings tracked4
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Corpus rank beside confusables of “veil”

This scale runs from the tiny cluster of words that carry ordinary speech (left) to the long tail of words almost nobody reaches for (right).veillands here:

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

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Same rarity band neighbours include “unofficial” (#11,993), “versatile” (#11,995), “Warsaw” (#11,996). Among 969 “V” headwords, “veil” is #11,994. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for veil is neighbouring look-alikes ("vi", "via", …), not just typos; it is anoun pronounced /veɪl/. Frequency #11,994 among 969 “V” headwords. 10 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

Our generated misspelling index lists 4 likely wrong-spelling variants for veil, with forms such as "veill", "veli", and "viel". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "vi", "via", "vol", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English veil, veyl, from Anglo-Norman and Old Northern French veil (“sail, veil, shroud”) (Francien Old French voil, French voile), Latin vēlum (“cloth, covering”). Displaced Middle English scleire, scleyre, sleyre, slyre (“veil”) (compare Germa… The correct English form is veil, spelled V-E-I-L.

Definition

  1. 1
    Something hung up or spread out to hide or protect the face, or hide an object from view; usually of gauze, crepe, or similar diaphanous material.
  2. 2
    Anything that partially obscures a clear view.
  3. 3
    A cover; disguise; a mask; a pretense.
  4. 4
    A covering for a person or thing; as, a caul (especially over the head)
  5. 5
    The calyptra of mosses.
  6. 6
    velum (A circular membrane round the cap of a medusa).
  7. 7
    A thin layer of tissue which is attached to or covers a mushroom.
  8. 8
    A membrane connecting the margin of the pileus of a mushroom with the stalk; a velum.
  9. 9
    An obscuration of the clearness of the tones in pronunciation.
  10. 10
    That which separates the living and the spirit world.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. The veil of the temple was rent in twain.
  2. She, as a veil down to the slender waist, / Her unadorned golden tresses wore.

Etymology

From Middle English veil, veyl, from Anglo-Norman and Old Northern French veil (“sail, veil, shroud”) (Francien Old French voil, French voile), Latin vēlum (“cloth, covering”). Displaced Middle English scleire, scleyre, sleyre, slyre (“veil”) (compare German Schleier). Doublet of velum and voile.

This word in other languages

velo(Español)voile(Français)Vorhang(Deutsch)véu(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • veill
  • veli
  • viel
  • vveil

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of veil - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

veill1veli2viel2vveil1
Edit distance from "veil"

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 "veil"?
"veil" is spelled V-E-I-L. The IPA pronunciation is /veɪl/.
What does "veil" mean?
As a noun, "veil" means: Something hung up or spread out to hide or protect the face, or hide an object from view; usually of gauze, crepe, or similar diaphanous material.
What words are commonly confused with "veil"?
"veil" is commonly confused with "vi", "via", "vol". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "veil"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "veil" is /veɪl/. 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 "veil"?
From Middle English veil, veyl, from Anglo-Norman and Old Northern French veil (“sail, veil, shroud”) (Francien Old French voil, French voile), Latin vēlum (“cloth, covering”). Displaced Middle English scleire, scleyre, sleyre, slyre (“veil”) (com... 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 "veil", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

tilt#11,988Theo#11,987Alec#12,003Tara#11,985

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list