Capital vs Capitol
What Is the Difference?
Capital and capitol are two commonly confused words in the English language.
They are confusing because they are homophones and are spelled almost exactly the same.
When do you use each one?
Click Here for Step-by-Step Rules, Stories and Exercises to Practice All English Tenses
These two words have completely different meanings. It is important that you know their meanings so you can use them correctly in your writing.
Capital
This is the more common of the two words. It is used more often than
the other spelling.Capital is usually used as a noun. As a noun, capital has three well-known meanings.
- Capital letter
- A city that serves as
a center of government
- Wealth in the form of
money or property
1. Capital letter (A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z)
Examples:
- Please capitalize
your first and last name. (Use a capital
letter to start each name.)
- In American schools, the capital
letter "A" means your work was at
least 90% correct.
- You must use a capital
letter at the beginning of every sentence.
- Should we use lower-case letters or capital
letters to write the title
of the book?
- Use capital letters for proper nouns.
2. A city that serves as a center of government
Every state has its own
capital city. The United States also has a national capital city.
For example:
- Topeka is the capital
of Kansas.
- Tallahassee is the capital of
Florida.
- Austin is the capital
of Texas.
- Phoenix is the capital
of Arizona.
- Santa Fe is the capital of
New Mexico.
- Sacramento is the capital of
California.
- Washington, D.C. is the capital of
the United States.
- Tokyo is the capital
of Japan.
3. Wealth in the form of money or property
Examples:
- The business made large capital
gains this year.
- The business did not have enough capital to
buy the new building.
- The company increased their capital by
selling fifty percent of their stock.
- We used our capital to hire five new employees this year.
Capitol
Capitol is
also a noun. Capitol refers to the actual capitol buildings in Washington, D.C. and in each state.
If you are writing about the United States Capitol building, then you capitalize "Capitol."
If you are writing about state capitol buildings, you do not capitalize "capitol."
If you are not writing about the actual capitol buildings, then you probably want to write "capital."
- The United States Capitol
building is located in the capital
city of
Washington, D.C.
- State capitol buildings are located in state capital cities.
These were the differences of capital and capitol. Now that you understand, it is time to practice! Get our ESL Books.
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