# employ vs employee

> English confusable word pair

## The two words

### employ
*verb · IPA /ɪmˈplɔɪ/ · frequency rank #7,558*
To retain (someone) as an employee.

### employee
*noun · IPA /ˌɛm.plɔɪˈiː/ · frequency rank #2,989*
A person who provides labor to a company or another person.

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/vs/employ-vs-employee