Are accuracy and precision the same thing?

They sound similar, but in physics, they are different.

Accuracy is how close your measurement is to the standard or "true" value. If a bag of rice is truly 50kg and your scale reads 49.9kg, your scale is accurate.

Precision is how consistent your measurements are. If you weigh that bag 5 times and get 45.1kg, 45.1kg, 45.1kg... your scale is very precise (it gives the same result every time) but it is not accurate (because the result is wrong!). ideally, you want instruments that are both precise and accurate.