What is the difference between 使用 and 实用?

Question

What is the difference between 使用 and 实用? In many contexts they both mean “make use” “put in use” “utilize”. Are they interchangeable or there is a certain refined difference in the meanings they convey ?

Answer 1

I don't believe 实用 can be confused with 使用 in any context

使用(v):to use

实用 (adj): practical

实際使用 (v)/(n)--> 实(際)(使)用 = acturally use/ practical use

e.g. 实用之后证实无效 Proved to be ineffective after practical use

Answer 2

I'm guessing there's some confusion here. It's hard to think of a single example where these words are interchangeable.

Importantly, these words belong to different parts of speech:

CC-CEDICT: 使用 (shǐ​yòng) to use / to employ / to apply / to make use of

使用 is a verb. It can take an object, such as in 不许使用手机 = "no using mobile phones". It can function as a noun in e.g. 互联网的使用 = "the use of the Internet".

CC-CEDICT: 实用 (shí​yòng) practical / functional / pragmatic / applied (science)

实用 is an adjective. It's used in sentences such as 它很实用 = "it's very practical" or 实用的课程 = "practical course". To use it as a noun (meaning "practicality"), you'd likely add a suffix, as in 实用性.

It basically never functions as a verb. Actually, I looked it up in my Chinese-Chinese dictionary, and it says it's a verb with the definition 实际使用 with the example 切合实用 = "appropriate application". This seems like a rare, narrow usage.

I'm tempted to think that maybe this question arose from misunderstanding a sentence like:

其实用这种方法并不难。
In fact, using this method is not hard.

Here the verb is 用, and the previous word is 其实. And since 其实 ends with 实, it gives the illusion that 实用 is being used as a verb (despite not being a verb).

Either that, or maybe you're reading content with typos.