Epithelial-myoepithelial carcinoma (EMC) is a low grade malignant neoplasm that commonly occurs in the parotid gland. Recently, we investigated a case of EMC that occurred in the external auditory canal (EAC) in a 35-year-old male, and this tumor was initially diagnosed as pleomorphic adenoma. The difficulty associated with diagnosing EMC by aspiration cytology arises from both the rare incidence of this tumor and the overlapping spectrum of cytological features found in various salivary gland tumors, such as pleomorphic adenoma, basal cell adenoma and adenoid cystic carcinoma.