Commonly Confused Words

Capital vs. Capitol

1 min de lecture

Capital and capitol sound identical, but their meanings are very different. One is used in many contexts, while the other is used in only one very specific situation.

Capital

Capital has several common meanings:

The main city of a country or region: Paris is the capital of France.
Money or assets used for investment: The company raised more capital.
Uppercase letters: Please write your name in capital letters.
Excellent or important (older usage): That’s a capital idea!

Capitol

Capitol refers only to a specific type of building:

The building where a government’s legislature meets.
Most famously, the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.

In the United States, “Capitol” is capitalized when referring to the actual U.S. Capitol building.

💡 Astuce

Capitol → building has a dome (think of the “o”).
Capital → everything else (city, money, letters).

Teste tes connaissances 📝

Question 1 sur 8Score: 0/8

Washington, D.C., is the ___ of the United States.

Découvre l'application : Français sans Fautes

Rejoins 500 000 personnes qui révisent les bases de l'orthographe sur l'application Français sans Fautes

D'autres règles similaires

Le vocabulaire, le bon

Title Capitalization

Title Case means you capitalize the important words in a title. It’s the style used in book titles, headings, and most English writing where the title needs to look formal. What do we capitalize in t...

Capital vs. Capitol

Capital

Capitol

💡 Astuce

Teste tes connaissances 📝

Washington, D.C., is the ___ of the United States.

Découvre l'application : Français sans Fautes

D'autres règles similaires

Title Capitalization

Comparative vs. Superlative Mistakes

Me vs. I

The correct use of “anxious”

Possessive Nouns

Less vs. Fewer

Since vs. For

Articles: A, An, The

Capital vs. Capitol

Capital

Capitol

💡 Astuce

Teste tes connaissances 📝

Washington, D.C., is the ___ of the United States.

Découvre l'application : Français sans Fautes

D'autres règles similaires

Title Capitalization

Comparative vs. Superlative Mistakes

Me vs. I

The correct use of “anxious”

Possessive Nouns

Less vs. Fewer

Since vs. For

Articles: A, An, The