# colonial vs colonize

> English confusable word pair

## The two words

### colonial
*adjective · IPA /kəˈləʊ.ni.əl/ · frequency rank #5,401*
Of or pertaining to a colony.

### colonize
*verb · IPA /ˈkɑlənaɪz/ · frequency rank #37,860*
To settle (a place) with colonists, and hence make (a place) into a colony.

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