Meaning & use
mpg
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Meanings
abbreviationuncountable
Miles per gallon: a measure of how far a vehicle can travel on one gallon of fuel.
Grammar: Read as three letters and used after a number: 40 mpg. It has no plural form.
Patterns
- get ... mpg
- a car that does ... mpg
This small car gets about 45 mpg on the highway.
The new model offers better mpg than the old one.
Drivers compare mpg before choosing a family car.
abbreviationuncountableBritish
In British use, often miles per gallon in the imperial system, so figures are not directly comparable with US ones.
Grammar: Usually written with a note about which gallon is meant when comparing countries.
Patterns
- imperial mpg
- US mpg
A UK mpg figure looks higher than a US one for the same car.
The brochure lists imperial mpg, so check before comparing.
Common combinations
- fuel economy
- Fuel economy is usually quoted in mpg.
- high mpg
- Hybrid cars are popular because of their high mpg.
- city mpg
- City mpg is always lower than highway mpg.
- improve mpg
- Gentle driving can improve your mpg.
Synonyms and how they differ
- fuel economy
- A general term that can be measured in mpg or in liters per 100 kilometers; mpg names only one unit.
- mileage
- Often means the total distance a car has traveled, not the efficiency figure, so it is not an exact match.
Commonly confused: mpg or mph?
mpg vs mph
MPH means miles per hour, a speed, while MPG measures fuel efficiency; the two letters look similar but describe different things.
Practice
A car advertisement says the car gets 50 mpg. What does this tell you?
Choose one answer.
MPG stands for miles per gallon, so it measures distance per unit of fuel. Option 0 describes speed, which would be mph.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “mpg”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.