veto
/ˈviːtəʊ/
"veto" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“veto” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #12,165 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #12,165
- frequency rank, English
- 4
- letters
- 5
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A political right to disapprove of (and thereby stop) the process of a decision, a law etc.
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 | veto |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈviːtəʊ/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #12,165 |
| Misspellings tracked | 5 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “veto” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for veto is 4 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈviːtəʊ/. Corpus data places it at rank #12,165 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for veto, with forms such as "evto", "veot", and "vetto". 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 20 confusable-pair relationships, "vo", "vex", "Vit", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Latin vetō (“I forbid”). The correct English form is veto, spelled V-E-T-O.
Definition
- 1A political right to disapprove of (and thereby stop) the process of a decision, a law etc.
- 2An invocation of that right.
- 3An authoritative prohibition or negative; a forbidding; an interdiction.
- 4A technique or mechanism for discarding what would otherwise constitute a false positive in a scientific experiment.
Etymology
From Latin vetō (“I forbid”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: evto,veot,vetto,vteo,vveto
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of veto - 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 "veto"?
What does "veto" mean?
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Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “veto”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is V-E-T-O - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈviːtəʊ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “vo” - see the side-by-side comparison. veto vs vo
- 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.