“Less” vs. “Fewer”: What’s the difference and when to use which

What are the definitions of “less” and “fewer”?

“Less” is a complex word because it has several meanings and can used in different types of speech. It can be used as a determiner, pronoun, adverb, adjective, and preposition. Despite having several ways to use the word, “less” typically has the same meaning in every type of speech. “Less” means to have a smaller amount or quantity of something. Whether you’re subtracting from something or comparing the quantity of one object to the quantity of another, “less” means smaller, slighter, shorter, or reduced.

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The tricky part is that “less” and “fewer” have similar meanings. While “fewer” isn’t used in as many types of speech, “fewer” can be a determiner, adjective, or pronoun. “Fewer” is used to emphasize having a small number of people or things.

The differences between “less” and fewer

Although the definitions of “less” and “fewer” are similar, they do have their differences as well. These differences can help you determine which word to use and when to use them. A simple way to determine which word you should use is based on whether or not you can actually count the objects you’re talking about. For example, the number of cars in a parking lot is something you can count. The number of cupcakes your students eat are also an object you can count. When you’re talking about countable objects or people, you should use “fewer.”

However, there are uncountable objects you can measure. For example, you may not be able to eyeball how many liters of water are in your backyard’s pond. But you can guess that the number of liters in your pond might be less than the amount of water liters in Lake Michigan. If you’re discussing uncountable objects, you should use “less” instead of “fewer.”

Examples of how to use each in a sentence

Specific examples of how you can use less or fewer when you write and speak are:

She has less makeup on than the model.
In this example, you should use “less” because the amount of makeup the girl has on isn’t something you can actually count.

He has fewer snacks in his lunchbox than her.
This sentence uses “fewer” because the number of snacks in his lunchbox and in her lunchbox are objects that you can count.

My English class has fewer students than my math class.
Although “students” are people, they’re still countable objects in this example. You can count how many students are in each class so that you can compare the numbers.

It’s less hot outside today than it was yesterday.
Unless you remember the measured temperature at the exact same time in both days, you can’t count the difference in heat. In this example, “less” is used to describe how you feel about the weather in both days.

“Less” and “fewer” are just a couple of words that are mixed up in the English language. Remember that fewer is something you can count whereas “less” is something you can estimate or gauge. Practice using the correct word when you write and speak so that you avoid making a common grammatical error. Other words you may confuse are homophones, like “too” and “to,” or words that don’t sound or mean the same, like “accept” and “except.”