# economic vs economical

> English confusable word pair

## The two words

### economic
*adjective · IPA /ˌiː.kəˈnɒm.ɪk/ · frequency rank #827*
Pertaining to an economy.

### economical
*adjective · IPA /ˌiː.kəˈnɒm.ɪ.kəl/ · frequency rank #13,141*
Careful with money so as not to spend too much; prudent; thrifty.

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