Measuring in litres

What are litres?

A litre is a unit of measurement.

You measure small amounts of liquid in millilitres (ml), while greater volumes are measured in litres.

Juice often comes in 1 litre bottles and so do things like bottled water and milk.

1 litre = 1,000 millilitres

Litre is shortened to 'l', so you can also say:

1l = 1,000ml

Quiz: Measuring in litres

Test out your knowledge of measuring litres with this quiz, then read on to complete the page.

Volume and capacity

Capacity is the maximum amount of space inside a container or how much a container can hold.

These containers are different shapes, but they all hold up to 2 litres of liquid.

They have a capacity of 2 litres.

Volume means the amount of space that something takes up in a container.

These containers both currently contain the same volume of liquid (2 litres), but they both have a different capacity.

Litre measures

1 litre is the same as 1,000ml.

When you are talking about a volume of liquid that is 1,000ml or above, use litres.

These three liquids are all sold in litres.

When you are measuring the volume of liquid in litres, you could use a 2 litre jug.

When you are measuring a greater volume of liquid, you could use a bucket or watering can. These have much greater capacities.

Measuring using litres

With larger capacity containers, such as buckets, you can measure larger amounts of liquid.

Measuring the volume of water in this bucket is simple. The volume of water is 3 litres.

This next bucket has a capacity of 10 litres.

Measuring the volume in this bucket is a bit more difficult. You will need to use your number line skills to help you out here.

The way the measurements are shown on the container is just like a number line.

Which number is halfway between 4 and 6?

5 is halfway between 4 and 6. So there are 5 litres of liquid in the container.

Finally, this jug has a capacity of 2 litres. It is half full.

Half of 2 is 1, so the volume of water in this jug is 1 litre.