Numeric or numerical?
numeric is an adjective meaning “Of or relating to numbers, especially the characters 0 to 9”; numerical is an adjective meaning “Of or pertaining to numbers”. In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) numerical is about 4.4 times as common as numeric.
What is the difference between numeric and numerical?
| numeric | numerical | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | adjective, noun | adjective |
| Meaning | Of or relating to numbers, especially the characters 0 to 9 Any number, proper or improper fraction, or incommensurable ratio | Of or pertaining to numbers |
| Example | none recorded | none recorded |
| Pronunciation | /n(j)uːˈmɛɹɪk/ /n(j)uˈmɛɹɪk/ /n(j)ʉːˈmeɹɪk/ | /n(j)uːˈmɛɹ.ɪ.kəl/ [n(j)uːˈmɛɹ.ɪ.kɫ̩] /n(j)uˈmɛɹ.ɪ.kəl/ |
| In writing | 1.0 times per million words | 4.5 times per million words |
Sources: numeric and numerical 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 numeric and numerical
numeric
- 1
Of or relating to numbers, especially the characters 0 to 9
- 2
Any number, proper or improper fraction, or incommensurable ratio
numerical
- 1
Of or pertaining to numbers
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, numeric or numerical?
numeric appears 1.0 times per million words; numerical 4.5 times per million words.
numeric 1.0 times per million wordsnumerical 4.5 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 numeric vs numerical?
“numeric vs numerical” is searched about 210 times a month on Google and 10 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“numerical vs numeric”, “numeric or numerical”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.