# racial vs racism

> English confusable word pair

## The two words

### racial
*adjective · IPA /ˈɹeɪʃəl/ · frequency rank #4,323*
Of or relating to a race (or a people).

### racism
*noun · IPA /ˈɹeɪsɪzm̩/ · frequency rank #4,703*
The belief that there are distinct human races with inherent differences which determine their abilities, and generally that some are superior and others inferior.

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