cupful

Everyday

1. The amount that a cup holds. tree →
2. In cooking, a measure of about one cup of an ingredient. tree →

In the lessons

In cooking and maths problems «a cupful» is a unit of amount: «two cupfuls of flour». In science it is a rough measure when you do not have a measuring jug. It tells you how much, not the cup itself. Phrases: «a cupful of», «half a cupful».

Examples

• Add a cupful of milk to the mixture. tree →
• She poured a cupful of water onto the plant. tree →
• The recipe needs two cupfuls of flour. tree →
• He scooped a cupful of sand into the bucket. tree →
• If one cupful is 250 ml, four cupfuls make one litre. tree →
• Half a cupful of sugar is plenty. tree →

Note

Plural is usually «cupfuls» (also «cupsful»). «Two cups of flour» and «two cupfuls of flour» mean the same amount. In maths, the size of a cup must be given: a US cup is about 240 ml, a metric cup in Australia, New Zealand and Canada is 250 ml.