Introduction. The Constitution of the Russian Federation is a political and legal document, which determines the presence in it of a large number of norms-principles, norms-goals, norms-declarations. The propositions stipulated in them are often referred to as categories, since they have concepts that are “extreme in terms of the level of generalization”. At the same time not all propositions can be attributed to the number of categories. Theoretical analysis. The criteria formulated by scientists who specialize in the field of theory of law were taken as the basis for differentiating the legal essence of such constitutional concepts as “category” and “constitutional principle”. The use of the method of comparative analysis made it possible to assess a number of norms of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, to show the correspondence of certain constitutional provisions to the concept of “category”. The formal and legal method allowed for excluding certain norms-principles from the categories due to the inconsistency of their content with the proposed criteria. A constitutional principle contains a certain idea, it does not regulate social relations. In terms of their influence on the regulation of constitutional legal relations, constitutional norms can be conceptual in nature, contain fundamental ideas or definitions, and consolidate legal relations. Results. The categorical apparatus of the Constitution of the Russian Federation is diverse in its composition, its elements have different degrees of generalization. The author proposed definitions of such elements of the categorical apparatus as “category” and “constitutional principle” and presented arguments about the possible division of the concepts of “constitutional category”, “constitutional principle”, “regulatory constitutional norm”.