# alcoholic vs alcoholism

> English confusable word pair

## The two words

### alcoholic
*noun · IPA /ˌæl.kəˈhɒl.ɪk/ · frequency rank #8,114*
A person who is addicted to alcohol.

### alcoholism
*noun · IPA /ˈælkə(ˌ)hɔˌlɪzəm/ · frequency rank #15,948*
A chronic disease caused by compulsive and uncontrollable consumption of alcoholic beverages, leading to addiction and deterioration in health and social functioning.

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/vs/alcoholic-vs-alcoholism