Capital or capitol?
capital is a noun meaning “Money and wealth: the means to acquire or produce goods and services…”; capitol is a noun meaning “Any building or complex of buildings in which a legislature meets”. They sound the same (/ˈkæpɪtəl/). In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) capital is about 10 times as common as capitol.
What is the difference between capital and capitol?
| capital | capitol | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | noun, adjective, interjection | noun |
| Meaning | Money and wealth: the means to acquire or produce goods and services, especially in a non-barter system Already-produced durable goods available for use as a factor of production, such as tools and bulldozers (equipment) and office buildings (structures) Of prime importance | USAny building or complex of buildings in which a legislature meets Any citadel or complex of buildings similar to the Roman Capitol, particularly Italian and Roman citadels including temples to Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva |
| Example | Near-synonym: assets | The state capitol is located smack-dab in the middle of the state's capital |
| Forms | capitals | capitols |
| Pronunciation | /ˈkæpɪtəl/ [ˈkʰæpɪtʰəl] ~ [ˈkʰæpɪtʰl̩] /ˈkapɪtəl/ | /ˈkæp.ɪ.təl/ |
| In writing | 102 times per million words | 10 times per million words |
Sources: capital and capitol in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of capital and capitol
capital
- 1
Money and wealth: the means to acquire or produce goods and services, especially in a non-barter system
Near-synonym: assets
- 2
Of prime importance
- 3
datedslangused as an expression of approval, satisfaction, or delight
That's an amazing idea! Capital!
- 4
The uppermost part of a column
- 5
Already-produced durable goods available for use as a factor of production, such as tools and bulldozers (equipment) and office buildings (structures)
Near-synonym: assets
- 6
Chief (in a political sense, as being the seat of the general government of a state or nation)
London and Paris are capital cities
- 7
The capitalist class; investors considered collectively with respect to their societal (economic, political, cultural, etc.) influence
The markets crashing symbolized capital’s discontent with the tax reforms passed
- 8
UKdatedExcellent
a capital fellow
capitol
- 1
USAny building or complex of buildings in which a legislature meets
The state capitol is located smack-dab in the middle of the state's capital
- 2
Any citadel or complex of buildings similar to the Roman Capitol, particularly Italian and Roman citadels including temples to Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva
- 3
Alternative form of capitoul (“the former chief magistrates of Toulouse, France”)
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, capital or capitol?
capital appears 102 times per million words; capitol 10 times per million words.
capital 102 times per million wordscapitol 10 times per million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search capital vs capitol?
“capital vs capitol” is searched about 33,100 times a month on Google and 2,040 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“capitol vs capital”, “capital or capitol”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.