Answer 1

Well attack is the stat used to determine how much damage is done by physical attacks and special attack is the stat that determines how much damage is done by a non physical attack.You can see what kind of attack a move is by looking at your Pokemon summary.

Comments

Again, I was typing and another answer appeared. It really pesters me.

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lol its okay ninja

Answer 2

Attack uses physical moves. Special uses somewhat "Magic Moves"(Thx 4xSam) moves. Say a Scyther uses Swords-Dance. Then he will use something like Double-Edge as it is an Attack-Boost then Attack. Aura Sphere is a ranged attack. If a Lucario uses it he isn't making contact with the other Pokemon, so it is a Special Attack.

Comments

I wouldn't say ranged attacks, because we can't say that all Special attacks are ranged.

I imagined Special attacks to be more of a "magic" type of attack (such as magic in most RPG games), and Physical move being... physical!

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Yeah just used the wrong word for it.