Displacement is defined by magnitude and direction, whereas distance is defined by:

1. The two words are not interchangeable in physics. 2. Displacement is defined by both direction and magnitude, so it is a vector. 3. Distance is defined only by magnitude, so it is a scalar. 4. That is why a round trip has zero displacement but a non-zero distance travelled. _Source: OpenStax College Physics for AP(R) Courses 2e (CC BY 4.0), Ch 2 'Kinematics', sections 2.1-2.8_