I saw the noun “restoral” on a plaque this morning and began wondering about these two nouns.

Problem:
The noun “restoral” has fallen out of use by many people.

Explanation:
The plaque honored a team of people who had restored some sort of service to a group of customers.

According to many dictionaries, the noun “restoral” first appeared in the early 1600s, and “restoration” is its only definition, where “restoration” means the act of restoring.

In contrast, the noun “restoration” first appeared around 1350, but the noun “restoration” has a different meaning when capitalized.

In particular, the phrase “the Restoration” with a capital R refers to King Charles the Second’s reestablishment of the monarchy in England.

I believe that this explains why some people favor “restoral” over “restoration” when referring to the act of restoring.

For fun, I searched Google for each of the following words (without the quotation marks) and got about the indicated numbers of matches:

• “restoration” — 10,700,000 matches
• “restoral” — 68,500 matches

This tells me that Web authors favor “restoration” over “restoral” by a ratio of 156:1. As I have explained, these two nouns are equivalent when referring to the act of restoring, but you have to choose one of them based on your audience and the likelihood of confusion.

For example, most people understand the noun “restoration” better than the noun “restoral” when they hear each noun — for example, over the telephone.

Solution:
When talking about restoring services and there is no likelihood of confusion with the Restoration with a capital R, use “restoration” in speech and in writing. Avoid using “restoral” in speech. Consider using “restoral” in writing for audiences that will recognize it and when there is likelihood of confusion with the Restoration with a capital R.