# doctor vs doctoral

> English confusable word pair

## The two words

### doctor
*noun · IPA /ˈdɒktə(ɹ)/ · frequency rank #1,332*
A physician; a member of the medical profession; one who is trained and licensed to heal the sick or injured. The final examination and qualification may award a doctor degree in which case the post-nominal letters are DO, DPM, MD, DMD, or DDS in the US, or MBBS or BDS in the UK.

### doctoral
*adjective · IPA /ˈdɒktəɹəl/ · frequency rank #13,905*
Relating to a doctorate.

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