painful vs awful

painful and awful both are adjectives.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
painful	No	Yes	No	No
awful	No	Yes	No	Yes

As adjectives, painful and awful are synonyms defined as:

Other synonyms of painful include abominable, atrocious, dreadful, terrible, unspeakable.

painful (adjective)	awful (adjective)
causing physical or psychological pain	offensive or even (of persons) malicious
exceptionally bad or displeasing	causing fear or dread or terror
causing physical discomfort	exceptionally bad or displeasing
causing misery or pain or distress	extreme in degree or extent or amount or impact
	inspiring awe or admiration or wonder
	inspired by a feeling of fearful wonderment or reverence

painful (adverb)	awful (adverb)
	used as intensifiers