Confusing Words: Amount (noun/verb) and Number (noun/verb)
Meaning:
Amount (a quantity of something, especially the total of a thing or things in number, size, value, or extent.)
Number (an arithmetical value, expressed by a word, symbol, or figure, representing a particular quantity and used in counting and making calculations.)
Amount vs Number Clarification: Amount is used only with the mass nouns that are uncountable. Number, on the other side, is used only with the countable nouns
Unlike homonyms, there are other words that cause confusion among writers and speakers. For instance, amount vs. number is one of the confusing cases that has to be resolved. These two words are closely related to each other that is why people get confused of these words. Both of these words are frequently used by each and every person.
In this post, I will compare amount vs. number. I will come up with proper definitions and examples to show you the correct usage of these words within a sentence.
Amount vs. Number – What is the Difference, Definition & Meaning?
As I said above that amount and number are used frequently. These two words are very common but I am sure that mostly people do not have idea about the difference between amount and number. The words depict that these are related to counting or quantity of something. Both of these words are used as noun and verb within sentences.
Let us describe them one by one to make a clear picture depicting the difference between these two words.
Amount
This particular word is used as a noun or a verb. As a noun, amount, means a quantity of something. You can use amount only for the mass nouns. Mass nouns are the nouns that are uncountable. You are unable to count mass nouns such as sand, water, pleasure etc.
1. I cannot find out the expected amount of sand in the jar.
2. Your presence will give me an enormous amount of pleasure.
3. He paid regular amounts of money to a charity. Reference – (cambridge.org)
Amount is used as a verb as well. As a verb, it means to total. For example, the electricity bill amounts to $50.
Number
Like amount, number is also used as a noun or a verb within sentences and it also refers to the quantity of something. But, there is a difference in the usage of number. Unlike amount, number is only used with count nouns. Count nouns are the nouns that are countable individually. For instance, stars, grains of sand, books in library, pages of a book etc.
1. I asked my assistant to find out the number of women working in the company.
2. Number of cases of the disease is increasing day by day.
3. Letters of complaint were surprisingly few in number.Reference – (cambridge.org)
Number as a verb can be also used within a sentence. As verb, number means to amount to, or to add up to. For example, the people were numbered in hundreds at my show or I want to number the grains of sand.
What Did You Learn?
Amount and number, both are used to refer the quantity of something. You should remember the difference that amount is used only with the mass nouns that are uncountable like pleasure, sunlight etc. Number, on the other side, is used only with the count nouns that are countable like books, children at a school, stars etc.