carful

Everyday

As many people or things as a car can hold, as in «a carful of children». tree →

In the lessons

In everyday life it is used for trips and shopping: «a carful of kids», «a carful of shopping». In maths word problems it can be a unit: if one carful is 5 children, how many cars for 23 children? It is not very common and some say «a carload».

Examples

• A carful of cousins arrived for Sunday lunch. tree →
• We took a carful of old toys to the charity shop. tree →
• Each carful can hold five people. tree →
• Two carfuls of football fans drove to the match. tree →
• Mum came back with a carful of shopping. tree →
• The team needed four carfuls to get to the game. tree →

Note

Countable: a carful, carfuls. Like spoonful, cupful, handful: -ful with one l. Trap: do not confuse with «careful» (taking care). Maths: if a carful is 5 people, 23 people need 5 cars (round up, because 4 cars hold only 20).