able vs competent

able

adj
  • Gifted with skill, intelligence, knowledge, or competence. 

  • Having the necessary powers or the needed resources to accomplish a task. 

  • Legally qualified or competent. 

  • Free from constraints preventing completion of task; permitted to; not prevented from. 

  • Capable of performing all the requisite duties; as an able seaman. 

noun
  • The letter "A" in Navy Phonetic Alphabet. 

competent

adj
  • Having sufficient skill, knowledge, ability, or qualifications. 

  • Resistant to deformation or flow. 

  • Having jurisdiction or authority over a particular issue or question. 

  • Adequate for the purpose. 

  • Permeable to foreign DNA. 

How often have the words able and competent occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )