Few vs A Few | Difference & Examples

Few can be a noun, determiner, indefinite pronoun, or adjective meaning “not many.” It is used when we want to talk about the quantity of countable nouns without being specific about their number (e.g., “few people”).

There is no specific number that few refers to, and in fact the actual number can vary significantly; “few people in the US” will probably be a larger number than “few members of my class.”

Few in a sentence examples
Very few people know what it’s like to walk on the moon.

A few of my classmates meet up every year for a reunion.

There are few pleasures better in life than the smell of fresh-mown grass.

We have a few tips for your trip to Lisbon.

Note
Although it is used widely in everyday writing and speech, in academic writing it is likely that few will be too imprecise.

  • Side effects were reported by few of those in the experimental group.
  • Side effects were reported by three of those in the experimental group.

In these instances, it’s best to rewrite your sentence to ensure your meaning is clear.

Few vs a few

It is easy to assume that you can use few and a few interchangeably, but this is not the case.

  • Few means “not many,” and you use it to describe a shortage of something (relatively speaking).
  • A few means “some,” and, although it still doesn’t mean “many,” it is used to emphasize that the number referred to is more than two.
A few in a sentence examples
A few of us have gotten together to buy Asmita a wedding gift.

The GPS offered us a few route options for the first part of the journey.

It was a shame no one asked me, because I had a few good ideas.

Note
If you place the adverb “only” in front of a few, then it takes on a more negative meaning, and becomes more like few again (e.g., “There are only a few places left, so be quick if you want to reserve a seat!”).

Quite a few

If you add quite to a few, you then have a phrase—quite a few—that means “a relatively large number” or “a lot.”

Quite a few in a sentence examples
The team had quite a few chances to score but missed them all.

Quite a few of the apples we bought were rotten.

A couple vs a few

Strictly speaking, a couple is two people or things (e.g., “the happy couple”). Often, however, it is used much like a few to mean a small number of things or people. It is also a phrase, like a few, which should not be used in academic writing as it is too imprecise.

In British English, a couple is followed by the preposition “of,” although in American English it will often be used without (e.g., “I saw a couple people I knew in the mall”).

A couple in a sentence examples
I have a couple of things I need to get done before the vacation starts.

Bear with me while I get a couple of programs for you.

Several vs few

Sometimes few is confused with several, but they have different meanings.

  • Few is used to put emphasis on the lack of something and means “not many.”
  • Several has a more positive emphasis, and it means “not many, but more than two” or “some.”
Several in a sentence examples
There are several ways of approaching this math problem.

There were few volunteers, but several of them had experience in this line of work.

Few vs little

Few and little are sometimes confused because they have similar meanings, but they are grammatically different.

  • Few refers to the quantity of countable nouns (e.g., cats, days, people, trees) and means “not many.”
  • Little refers to the amount or degree of uncountable nouns (e.g., courage, traffic, butter, coal) and means “not much.”
Little in a sentence examples
The student’s essay showed little knowledge of the specific topic.

In those early days, little advice was available to new students.

Note
You can’t make plurals of uncountable nouns, so little (when it means “not much”) will only be used with singular nouns (e.g., “little air”). When used with a countable noun (e.g., “little boy”), it doesn’t mean “not much.”

Frequently asked questions about few

What is a synonym for “few”?

Here are some synonyms and near synonyms for few:

  • A small number of
  • Hardly any
  • A minority of
  • Not many

Automatically rewrite your sentences to convey your meaning in different ways.

What does a few mean?

A few means “a small number of” or “some.” If the adverb “only” is used with a few then it means “not many” (e.g., “It seems like there are only a few days each year when it doesn’t rain on the west coast of Ireland”).

It’s easy to check your writing for accuracy using the QuillBot Grammar Checker.

How many is a few?

There is no specific number associated with a few, but it’s usually a relatively small number that’s more than two (e.g., “In a few years, these trees will hide that ugly building”).

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Trevor Marshall, MSc

Trevor has a BA in English Literature & Language and an MSc in Applied Social Studies. He has been a teacher for 25 years, with 15 years experience teaching ESL alongside 1st language students.