Motor abilities are relatively stable underlying capacities, while motor skills are learned and reflect how effectively motor abilities are applied to a specific task.

Verified by Lenz · Jun 1, 2026

The Short Version

The statement matches standard motor learning terminology. Authoritative textbooks define motor abilities as relatively enduring capacities underlying performance and motor skills as learned, task-specific actions. Research on motor competence adds nuance about development, training effects, and limited transfer across tasks, but those caveats do not overturn the core distinction.

Caveats

"Relatively stable" does not mean fixed forever; abilities can change with growth, practice, injury, fatigue, and context.
The link between abilities and skills is not one-to-one: strong performance in one motor skill may not transfer much to a different skill.
Some current literature uses broader terms such as "motor competence," which can blur a strict textbook separation between abilities and skills.

The Receipts

Motor competence and health-related outcomes in children: a systematic review
PubMedFeb 14, 2019
Task-Specific and Latent Relationships Between Motor Skills and Underlying Physical Fitness: A Longitudinal Study
PubMed Central (Frontiers in Human Neuroscience)Sep 10, 2020
Motor competence and physical activity in children: a review
PubMedOct 1, 2012
Motor skills and cognitive benefits in children and adolescents
PubMed CentralNov 30, 2022
Motor competence and its relationship with physical activity, physical fitness, and weight status
PubMed CentralJul 20, 2020
Motor Abilities and Motor Skills (chapter in Motor Control and Learning)
Taylor & Francis / RoutledgeApr 15, 2011
Motor abilities and motor skills (chapter in a motor behavior handbook)
Routledge Handbooks OnlineJun 1, 2012
The development of motor skill competence
PubMed CentralJun 1, 2009
The role of strategies in motor learning
PubMedMar 3, 2015
Motor Learning - Human Kinetics
Human Kinetics

+ 11 more sources — see the full list on Lenz

Motor abilities are relatively stable underlying capacities, while motor skills are learned and reflect how effectively motor abilities are applied to a specific task.

The Short Version

Caveats

The Receipts

More Fact Checks

Early theories in motor behavior proposed a single general motor ability, but later research found that motor abilities such as balance, timing, strength, and coordination are relatively independent of one another.

It is difficult to separate innate motor ability from the effects of practice, learning, motivation, opportunity, and environmental influences when explaining differences in motor performance.

Correlations between performance on different motor tasks are often weak, which limits the predictive validity of measuring a single motor ability to predict overall motor performance.