⚡ Quick summary
Aid is used as a verb and a noun. As a verb, aid is a synonym of help and means “to assist” or “to provide support.” As a noun, aid typically means “assistance” or “a person or thing that provides help.” Aide is only used as a noun, typically to refer to people who are paid to assist others.
The words aid and aide are pronounced exactly the same and only have one letter difference between them. However, they are typically used to mean distinct things.
In this article, we will help you out by breaking down the difference between aid and aide, explain how they are typically used, and provide examples that show how we commonly use them in sentences.
aid vs. aide
The word aid is used as a verb and a noun. As a verb, aid means “to provide support” or “to give assistance.” As a noun, aid typically means “assistance” or “a person or thing that provides assistance.” In both the verb and noun senses, aid is used as a synonym of the word help.
The word aide is only used as a noun. It has several specific senses, but it typically refers to a person who is paid to provide assistance to someone. This aide is not used as a verb.
Both aid and aide can mean “a person who assists,” but the word aide is more commonly used in this sense. Additionally, the word aide only refers to people, while aid can refer to people or objects. For example, an object that helps a person hear is referred to as a hearing aid and not a hearing aide. And only the word aid can be used as an abstract noun to mean “help,” as in She needed aid from her sister to solve the crossword puzzle.
To help you remember the difference, you could remember that aide with an e refers only to people, often employees who are hired to help.
Examples of aid and aide used in a sentence
Let’s take a look at some helpful sentences that can assist us by showing how we typically use the words aid and aide.
- The nurses provided aid to the injured workers.
- The mayor’s aide always takes notes during council meetings.
- My notes aided me greatly when it was time to study for finals.
- The judge’s aides helped her review old cases relevant to the trial.
- After I broke my back, I hired a home health aide to aid me with chores I couldn’t do by myself anymore.
