communicable vs contagious

communicable and contagious both are adjectives.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
communicable	No	Yes	No	No
contagious	No	Yes	No	No

As adjectives, communicable and contagious are synonyms defined as:

communicable and contagious: (of disease) capable of being transmitted by infection

Other synonyms of communicable include catching, contractable, transmissible, transmittable.

communicable (adjective)	contagious (adjective)
readily communicated	(of disease) capable of being transmitted by infection
(of disease) capable of being transmitted by infection	easily diffused or spread as from one person to another