capital v. capitol

Capital and capitol both ultimately stem from the Latin caput, for head. Capital, with an ‘a’, has many meanings: 

• the city that serves as a country or region’s seat of government
• the center of a specific activity (‘the fashion capital of the world’)
• wealth in the form of money or property
• in economics, a resource used to produce goods or services
• punishable by death
• a large letter used at the beginning of a sentence and of some words for emphasis; uppercase
• of primary importance
• first rate; excellent
• the top of a column

Capitol, with an ‘o’, is the building in which a legislature meets.

Wikipedia on capital

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