employed

/ɪmˈplɔɪd/

//ɪmˈplɔɪd// adj

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

"employed" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“employed” has 12 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #3,486. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#3,486
frequency rank, English
2,246
“E” headwords
12
tracked misspellings
5
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - In a job; working.

Corpus desk

Index EN-employed · employed · English

employed · rank #3,486 · 12 variants · 5 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #3,486
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 5 pairs
  • VAR-MID 12 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,246
  • PHOTO-FINISH electrical

Nearest frequency peer: electrical (-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.

Rank peers near misspelling magnet “employed”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

What this shows “employed” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

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).

employed vs employee
88% similar
employed vs employer
88% similar
employed vs exploded
75% similar

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

Key facts for employed
PropertyValue
Headwordemployed
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdjective
IPA/ɪmˈplɔɪd/
Letters8
Frequency rank#3,486
Misspellings tracked12
Confusable pairs5
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “employed”

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).employedlands 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 “electrical” (#3,485), “enjoying” (#3,487), “efficient” (#3,484). Among 2,246 “E” headwords, “employed” is #3,486. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 12 spelling variants around employed (IPA /ɪmˈplɔɪd/), anadjective. Corpus frequency is #3,486 among 2,246 “E” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 12 likely wrong-spelling variants for employed, with forms such as "emlpoyed", "emmployed", and "emplloyed". 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 5 confusable-pair relationships, "employee", "employer", "exploded", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

This entry's etymology isn't recorded, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct English form is employed, spelled E-M-P-L-O-Y-E-D.

Definition

  1. 1
    In a job; working.
  2. 2
    Used; in use.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. You're just looking for a handout like every other—are you employed, Mr. Lebowski?
  2. Studies on LLS in recent decades have identified a large number of strategies which are employed by English as a foreign/second language (EFL/ESL) learners and several strategy categorisation patterns have also been established.

This word in other languages

empleado(Español)actif(Français)berufstätig(Deutsch)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • emlpoyed
  • emmployed
  • emplloyed
  • emploeyd
  • employde
  • employedd
  • employyed
  • emplyoed
  • empolyed
  • empployed
  • epmloyed
  • meployed

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of employed - 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.

emlpoyed2emmployed1emplloyed1emploeyd2employde2employedd1employyed1emplyoed2
Edit distance from "employed"

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 "employed"?
"employed" is spelled E-M-P-L-O-Y-E-D. The IPA pronunciation is /ɪmˈplɔɪd/.
What does "employed" mean?
As an adjective, "employed" means: In a job; working.
What words are commonly confused with "employed"?
"employed" is commonly confused with "employee", "employer", "exploded". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "employed"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "employed" is /ɪmˈplɔɪd/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "employed" come from?
"employed" is a English word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
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 "employed", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

enjoying#3,487entering#3,488designer#3,479ceremony#3,474

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (12 here; floor ≥5).

attempted12 variantsordinary12 variantsromantic12 variantsdramatic12 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list