Sugar vs. Starch — What's the Difference?

A sweet crystalline substance obtained from various plants.

Firmness of manner or bearing.

A class of edible crystalline substances.

A white, tasteless carbohydrate used as a food ingredient.

Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Table sugar, granulated sugar, or regular sugar, refers to sucrose, a disaccharide composed of glucose and fructose.

To stiffen with a starchy substance.

A sweet crystalline or powdered substance, white when pure, consisting of sucrose obtained mainly from sugarcane and sugar beets and used in many foods, drinks, and medicines to improve their taste. Also called table sugar.

A carbohydrate found in certain plants, used for energy storage.

Any of a class of water-soluble crystalline carbohydrates, including sucrose and lactose, having a characteristically sweet taste and classified as monosaccharides, disaccharides, and trisaccharides.

Starch or amylum is a polymeric carbohydrate consisting of numerous glucose units joined by glycosidic bonds. This polysaccharide is produced by most green plants for energy storage.

A unit, such as a lump or cube, in which sugar is dispensed or taken.

An odourless, tasteless white substance occurring widely in plant tissue and obtained chiefly from cereals and potatoes. It is a polysaccharide which functions as a carbohydrate store and is an important constituent of the human diet.

(Slang) Sweetheart. Used as a term of endearment.

Powder or spray made from starch and used before ironing to stiffen fabric or clothing

To coat, cover, or sweeten with sugar.

Stiffness of manner or character

To make less distasteful or more appealing.

Stiffen (fabric or clothing) with starch

To form sugar.

(of a boxer) defeat (an opponent) by a knockout

To form granules; granulate.

A naturally abundant nutrient carbohydrate, (C6H10O5)n, found chiefly in the seeds, fruits, tubers, roots, and stem pith of plants, notably in corn, potatoes, wheat, and rice, and varying widely in appearance according to source but commonly prepared as a white amorphous tasteless powder.

To make sugar or syrup from sugar maple sap. Often used with off.

Any of various substances, such as natural starch, used to stiffen cloth, as in laundering.

(uncountable) Sucrose in the form of small crystals, obtained from sugar cane or sugar beet and used to sweeten food and drink.

Starches Foods having a high content of starch, as rice, breads, and potatoes.

(countable) A specific variety of sugar.

Stiff behavior

Any of various small carbohydrates that are used by organisms to store energy.

Vigor; mettle

(countable) A small serving of this substance (typically about one teaspoon), used to sweeten a drink.

To stiffen with starch.

(countable) A term of endearment.

(uncountable) A widely diffused vegetable substance, found especially in seeds, bulbs and tubers, as extracted (e.g. from potatoes, corn, rice, etc.) in the form of a white, glistening, granular or powdery substance, without taste or smell, and giving a very peculiar creaking sound when rubbed between the fingers. It is used as a food, in the production of commercial grape sugar, for stiffening linen in laundries, in making paste, etc.

A kiss.

Carbohydrates, as with grain and potato based foods.

Effeminacy in a male, often implying homosexuality.

(uncountable) A stiff, formal manner; formality.

Diabetes.

(uncountable) Fortitude.

(dated) Anything resembling sugar in taste or appearance, especially in chemistry.

(countable) Any of various starch-like substances used as a laundry stiffener

Compliment or flattery used to disguise or render acceptable something obnoxious; honeyed or soothing words.

To apply or treat with laundry starch, to create a hard, smooth surface.

Heroin.

Stiff; precise; rigid.

Money.

Stiff; precise; rigid.

(programming) syntactic sugar.

A widely diffused vegetable substance found especially in seeds, bulbs, and tubers, and extracted (as from potatoes, corn, rice, etc.) as a white, glistening, granular or powdery substance, without taste or smell, and giving a very peculiar creaking sound when rubbed between the fingers. It is used as a food, in the production of commercial grape sugar, for stiffening linen in laundries, in making paste, etc.

(transitive) To add sugar to; to sweeten with sugar.

Fig.: A stiff, formal manner; formality.

(transitive) To make (something unpleasant) seem less so.

To stiffen with starch.

In making maple sugar, to complete the process of boiling down the syrup till it is thick enough to crystallize; to approach or reach the state of granulation; with the preposition off.

A complex carbohydrate found chiefly in seeds, fruits, tubers, roots and stem pith of plants, notably in corn, potatoes, wheat, and rice; an important foodstuff and used otherwise especially in adhesives and as fillers and stiffeners for paper and textiles

(entomology) To apply sugar to trees or plants in order to catch moths.

Stiffen with starch;

To rewrite (source code) using syntactic sugar.

A substance used to stiffen fabrics.

(transitive) To compliment (a person).

To remove hair using a paste of sugar, water, and lemon juice.

(minced oath) Used in place of shit!

A sweet white (or brownish yellow) crystalline substance, of a sandy or granular consistency, obtained by crystallizing the evaporated juice of certain plants, as the sugar cane, sorghum, beet root, sugar maple, etc. It is used for seasoning and preserving many kinds of food and drink. Ordinary sugar is essentially sucrose. See the Note below.

By extension, anything resembling sugar in taste or appearance; as, sugar of lead (lead acetate), a poisonous white crystalline substance having a sweet taste.

Compliment or flattery used to disguise or render acceptable something obnoxious; honeyed or soothing words.

In making maple sugar, to complete the process of boiling down the sirup till it is thick enough to crystallize; to approach or reach the state of granulation; - with the preposition off.

To impregnate, season, cover, or sprinkle with sugar; to mix sugar with.

To cover with soft words; to disguise by flattery; to compliment; to sweeten; as, to sugar reproof.

A white crystalline carbohydrate used as a sweetener and preservative

An essential structural component of living cells and source of energy for animals; includes simple sugars with small molecules as well as macromolecular substances; are classified according to the number of monosaccharide groups they contain

Informal terms for money

Sweeten with sugar;

An informal term for a sweet person.

Energy; pep.

Affectionate form of address.

Grains, legumes, and certain vegetables are rich in starch.

Yes, starch is often used to stiffen fabrics.

Yes, both sugar and starch are carbohydrates.

Yes, sugar is inherently sweet.

Yes, sugar offers a quick burst of energy.