hi James first of all let's clarify the class of this two words: they are both nouns (an adjective, very generically, is a word that add a specific "feature" to a noun i.e. "beautiful" adds a quality; "my" adds the belonging; "those" add an indication; and so on). regarding your main question about the difference of meaning between the two words, i'd day it is quite similar and in a general context they could be interchangeable. under a "magnifying glass" I would say that a "routine" is a "recurring schedule". the schedule is a set of calendarised "TO DOs" that have not (or maybe just a short) recurrence; a routine a set of calendarised "TO DOs" having very similar (up to equal) characteristics, especially those related to the space and time in which the action takes place. does it all make sense?! :) hope so! Vince