What is the difference between matter and substance?
For example, are ice and water "the same matter" or "the same substance"?
Dictionaries seem vague about the difference. For example, the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary states that matter is "a physical substance in general" or "substance, material or things of a specified kind", while substance is a "particular type of matter".
Best Answer
NOAD says:
It's easy to see why you'd have trouble with the two words. Their definitions are circularly defined, so there is some obvious synonymous overlap.
That said, there are certain contexts where one word sounds inherently more appropriate than the other. Here are a few examples:
In such sentences, how would someone know when to use matter, and when to use substance? As I pondered this question, the best technique I was able to devise came from keying on this part of NOAD's first definition of substance:
I realized, if I could use "[a] particular kind of matter" in the sentence, then the word substance would probably be the better fit. For example:
The second sentence conveys the sentiment more accurately; so, it would be better to use the word substance. Similarly:
Again, substance is the better fit. However:
In that case, the meaning is obscured by inserting "a particular kind of", so matter is the better word to use.
Once again, gravity affects all matter, not just a particular kind of matter used in satellites, so matter is the better word.
I'll repeat this exercise for another sentence from my initial examples:
is OK, because I would not say:
because there are more than three elements in most stars. However, I could say:
meaning I could also say:
Lastly:
is left as an exercise for the reader.
I wouldn't go so far as to say this is a hard and fast rule for determining when to use matter or substance, but it doesn't appear to be a bad initial analysis.
One other footnote: this methodology works when the two words are being used in a similar context, and would not apply to other contexts, such as a financial matter, or the substance of an argument, or to idiomatic uses (such as gray matter for intelligence).