principal and principle - the difference

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PRINCIPAL / PRINCIPLE

 
Principal means 'main'.
A principal is the head (of a department).
Principle means 'general law' or 'code of conduct'.
 

Writers occasionally confuse the words 'principal' and 'principle'.

Principal

In its most common role, 'principal' is an adjective meaning 'main' or 'key'.

Examples: 

The principal objective is to make a profit.
(The adjective 'principal' modifies the noun 'objective'.)
(principal = main or key)

The inspector highlighted my principal concern in his opening sentence.
(principal = main or key)

The word 'principal' can also be noun mean 'head' or 'chief'. It is commonly used to denote 'head teacher' in the US.

Here comes the principal. 
(principal = head teacher)

The allegations against the former principal were that he not only allowed the cage fights to take place, but he also he egged on the participants.

Principle

The word principle is a noun. It has a range of meanings, including rule, belief, tenet and theory.  In general, 'principle' offers the idea of 'general law' or 'code of conduct'.

No! It is against my principles!

That is a great idea in principle.

Those are my principles. If you don't like them, I have others. (Groucho Marx quote)

You could strengthen your argument by appealing to more general
principles.

He applied the Aufbau principal to determine the electron configuration of the silicon.
(should be principle / principle = theory or general law)
 
Select the correct version:



 
A1 

If you imagine that the l on the end of principal looks like a '1', then the last two letters become 'A1'.  This may help you to remember that principal denotes 'the most important' or 'main'.

My principal concern is the safety of the dove.
(my A1 concern, i.e., main concern)
You can explain your absence to the principal.
(to the A1, i.e., the most important person in the department) 
PRINCIPAL AND MONEY 

When referring to a loan, the principal (or principal sum) is the original amount of a debt or investment on which interest is calculated.
Associated lessons:
 
What are nouns?
What are verbs?
List of easily confused words
 
 

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