# governess vs governs

> English confusable word pair

## The two words

### governess
*noun · IPA /ˈɡʌvɚnəs/ · frequency rank #34,084*
A woman paid to educate children in their own home.

### governs
*verb · frequency rank #23,847*
third-person singular simple present indicative of govern

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