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Level: A2

Length, Weight, Capacity & Measurement Words

English words for length, weight, capacity, temperature, and digital storage — each with a short definition.

500+ words in pictures

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  • Length & Distance
  • millimeter – a very tiny length; the width of a pencil tip
  • centimeter – a small unit; about the width of a fingernail
  • decimeter – one tenth of a meter; about the width of a hand
  • meter – the basic unit of length; a little longer than a yard
  • kilometer – one thousand meters; used for long distances
  • micron – a length so small you need a microscope to see it
  • inch – about the length of the top joint of an adult thumb; used in the US
  • foot – 12 inches; about the length of an adult’s foot
  • yard – 3 feet; about the length of a baseball bat
  • mile – a long distance; about 1,609 meters
  • rod – an old length measure; about 5.5 yards
  • Weight & Mass
  • milligram – a very small weight; about as heavy as a grain of sand
  • centigram – a tiny weight; one hundredth of a gram
  • gram – the basic weight in the metric system; about a paperclip
  • kilogram – one thousand grams; the weight of a big book
  • tonne – a metric ton; one thousand kilograms, the weight of a small car
  • kilotonne – a thousand metric tons; very heavy, for ships or buildings
  • centner – a weight measure equal to 100 kilograms (common in Europe)
  • carat – used for weighing diamonds; one carat is 200 milligrams
  • ounce – a small weight; about the weight of a slice of bread
  • pound – 16 ounces; about the weight of a soccer ball
  • ton – in the US, 2,000 pounds; used for large objects
  • grain – the weight of one seed; used for gold or medicine
  • dram – a very small weight; used in old recipes or medicine
  • Capacity & Volume
  • milliliter – a drop of liquid; one thousandth of a liter
  • centiliter – a very small amount; about two teaspoons of water
  • deciliter – one tenth of a liter; about half a cup
  • liter – the basic unit for measuring liquid; a big water bottle
  • decaliter – ten liters; about a big bucket of water
  • hectoliter – one hundred liters; fills a large fish tank
  • microliter – one millionth of a liter; a single drop from a lab tool
  • barrel – a big round container for liquids like oil or wine
  • pint – about half a liter; a common beer glass in the UK
  • quart – a quarter of a gallon; about one liter
  • gallon – a large measure for liquids; about 3.8 liters in the US
  • Temperature & Scale
  • degrees – a unit for showing how hot or cold something is
  • Celsius – a scale where water freezes at 0 and boils at 100
  • Fahrenheit – a scale where water freezes at 32 and boils at 212
  • Kelvin – a science temperature scale that starts at absolute zero
  • scale – a set of marks or numbers for measuring
  • temperature – tells if something is hot or cold
  • Digital Storage
  • bit – the smallest piece of digital information; a 0 or a 1
  • byte – a group of eight bits; enough for one letter on a computer
  • kilobyte – about one thousand bytes; used for small files
  • megabyte – about one million bytes; used for photos and songs
  • gigabyte – about one billion bytes; used for videos and big apps
  • terabyte – about one trillion bytes; used for large hard drives