empleevsempleoTell them apart

Quick tell: emplee is a verb, empleo is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“emplee” is a verb and “empleo” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#49,607
“emplee” frequency rank
#1,310
“empleo” frequency rank
50917
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature emplee empleo
Definition Primera persona del singular (yo) del presente de subjuntivo de emplear o de emplearse. Acción o efecto de emplear

Where the eye mixes emplee and empleo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. emplee and empleo follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCCVV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
emplee
6 ch
empleo

Why the eye confuses emplee with empleo

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: emplee is [ẽmˈplee] while empleo is [ẽmˈpleo]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - e in “emplee” becomes o in “empleo”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50917, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

emplee is recorded at frequency rank #49,607, classified as averb, pronounced [ẽmˈplee]. empleo is at rank #1,310, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ẽmˈpleo].

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 50917, this pair ranks #100,643 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of emplee vs empleo

Shared letters: elmp. Private to "emplee": -. Private to "empleo": o.

"emplee" · 6 letters · shape VCCCVV  ·  "empleo" · 6 letters · shape VCCCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • empleeemlpee · emmplee · empele · emple · empllee · empplee · epmlee · meplee
  • empleoemlpeo · emmpleo · empelo · emplleo · emploe · emppleo · epmleo · mepleo

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "emplee" and "empleo" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "emplee" is a verb and "empleo" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "emplee" vs "empleo" - which ranks higher?
"empleo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,310 in our Spanish list, against #49,607 for "emplee". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "emplee" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "empleo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #100,643 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "emplee" and "empleo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "empire vs emplee". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #100,643 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list