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Fluid ounces measure volume, while dry ounces measure weight. The terms can be misleading, as fluid ounces are used to measure dry goods and dry ounces are used to measure liquids. Some goods are sold by weight, while others are sold by volume. The context usually clarifies the type of measurement. One fluid ounce in the US is equal to 1.04 fluid ounces in the UK, and one Troy ounce is 480 grains or 31.10 grams.
A fluid ounce is a measure of volume, with 16 fluid ounces being equal to one pint. Fluid ounces are measured in standardized and predefined containers. A fluid ounce of water will take up the same amount of space as a fluid ounce of sugar. A dry ounce is a measure of weight, with 16 dry ounces being equal to one pound. A dry ounce of sugar weighs the same as a dry ounce of water, but will take up a different volume of space.
The terms fluid and dry are misleading because they can mislead people into assuming that a fluid ounce is for measuring liquids and dry ounces for measuring solids. Fluid ounces are used to measure dry goods every day and dry ounces are used to measure liquids.
Consider the familiar kitchen scoop outlined in fluid ounces. Home recipes call for a certain volume of sugar, cream, oil, water or flour. The weight of each of these ingredients is irrelevant, and thankfully it is. It would take a long time to make a recipe by weighing each ingredient!
Some goods do not lend themselves to measuring by a fluid ounce and are instead measured by weight using dry ounces. For example, meat is sold by weight. Even so, two cuts of beef that are both worth a pound might contain different amounts of bone, gristle, or fat. This has given rise to lean cuts that are correspondingly more expensive because there is more meat per pound.
Items like breakfast cereal and potato chips are sold by weight so each box or bag has the same amount of food. Contents normally settle in shipping and on opening an item like this it may feel like the box or bag is short. For this reason manufacturers have added a printed statement to many of these products informing consumers that the item is sold by weight and not by volume, another way of saying it is sold in dry ounces versus fluid ounces.
When referring to dry or fluid ounces, most people simply say “ounces.” The type of measurement — weight or volume — is usually clear from the context. By purchasing a pound of sugar, we understand it will be 16 ounces (dry) by weight. When making cookies and a recipe calls for eight ounces of sugar, however, we don’t add a pound! Instead the sugar goes in one measuring cup per eight (fluid) ounces, or one cup.
One fluid ounce in the US is equal to 1.04 fluid ounces in the UK. One Troy ounce, used to measure precious metals such as gold, platinum and silver, is 480 grains, or 31.10 grams. That’s a few more grams than a standard US dry ounce, which is 28.35 grams.
