Adaptive modulation/demodulation method in a radio communication system is provided. A modulation multi-level number in a transmission device and a demodulation multi-level number in a reception device are judged independently from each other according to a propagation condition and communication is performed by controlling the likelihood when the multi-level numbers of the transmission side and the reception side are different. The reception device can perform operation by controlling likelihood information on lower bit of the multi-level modulation even when the modulation multi-level number and the demodulation multi-level number used at the transmission side are different. Moreover, the transmission device and the reception device independently decide the modulation multi-level number and the demodulation multi-level number, thereby following an instantaneous propagation fluctuation and improving the throughput.