What is the difference between Less Than and Fewer Than?

Fewer than and less than are commonly used interchangeably, but these words have some differences. The main difference between the two is the quantity that is addressed.

Fewer than is used to refer to things that can be counted (countable things). For example, fewer schools and fewer cars.

On the other hand, less than is used to refers to things that cannot be counted (uncountable/mass things). For example: “The rate of drug use is less than it was last year.”

Also, less than can be used when referring to plural nouns for amount, time, and distance. For example: “I have less than 10 dollars left”.

There are times when it can be confusing to use the different terms that are available. For example, when you want to use less than and fewer than, how will you know which is which? You will use fewer when you are going to count and describe things that are countable.

For example, you may say that you have fewer dollars as compared to when you first entered the store. Money is countable which means that using fewer will be effective. When you use the term less than, this means that you are referring to things that you cannot count.

For example, you cannot count sugar granules. So you can say that the sugar granules are less than the amount of the salt granules.