Credible or Creditable?

Until a few weeks ago, I didn’t even know there was such a word as Creditable. Oy! But a few weeks ago my college Composition I students starting using CREDITABLE with gleeful abandon and totally confused me. If only one of my students had used the word creditable, I wouldn’t have thought anything of it. However, three or four of them used it in the exact same way and I started questioning my sanity. I really hate it when I start to think something I have always thought to be correct (using credible to describe an author’s work, for instance) is WRONG! So, I turned to the internet. Here’s what I found!

First and most importantly, my students were wrong and I was right! He he…

Credible is an adjective that means trustworthy. Calling an author credible means that author can be trusted to provide legitimate information.

Creditable is an adjective that means praiseworthy. Creditable can be used to describe an actor’s performance. Calling an author creditable, though, isn’t the right use of the adjective.

So, if you’re writing a paper for your English teacher and you’re supposed to comment on an essay you read, stick with the adjective CREDIBLE to describe that author.

Here are a couple extra sources, if you’re itching for more information on this scintillating topic.

The Penultimate Word

Quiz yourself here to make sure you understand.

And that’s your 5 Minute Grammar Lesson. Enjoy!