The words 'historic' and 'historical' are close in meaning, but their uses
are quite different.
Historic
The adjective
'historic' means 'having importance in history' or 'having influence on
history'.
HistoricalThe adjective
'historical' means 'having taken place in history', 'from the past' or 'pertaining to history'.
Side-by-side examples:
 This is a
historical event. 
(one that happened in the past)
This is a
historic event.
(one that is important in history, e.g., the Moon landing)
He was a
historical scholar.
(A scholar who studied history)
He was a
historic scholar.
(A scholar who was important in history, e.g., Homer)
The bones
were of historical significance.
(significant from a perspective of history, i.e., possibly worthless but
important to study history)
The bones
were of historic significance.
(very significant, i.e., important in history)
Select the correct version:
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AN HISTORICAL OR A HISTORICAL?
Letters and sounds do not always correlate in English.
When pronouncing the words 'historic' and 'historical', the accent falls on the second syllable,
and many pronounce them as starting with a vowel. For those people, it is appropriate
to use 'an' before 'historic' and 'historical'. Therefore, you have a
choice depending on what sounds best for you. There is a lot of leniency
on this issue. If you're still unsure, opt for 'a historical' and 'a
historic' as these remain preferable - especially in formal writing.
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Easily Confused Words
