Yard vs. Foot — What's the Difference?
By Tayyaba Rehman & Urooj Arif — Updated on April 16, 2024
Yard and foot are both units of length; a yard is equivalent to 3 feet, thus being longer.
Difference Between Yard and Foot
Table of Contents
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Key Differences
A yard is a unit of linear measurement commonly used in both the British Imperial and U.S. customary systems. It equals 3 feet or 36 inches. Whereas, a foot is also a unit of linear measurement but it represents a shorter length of 12 inches. This basic relation places a yard as a standard for larger measurements like fabric lengths or field dimensions.
When measuring room sizes or furniture, a foot is often more practical and precise. On the other hand, yards are preferred in contexts like fabric shops and sports fields, where larger, rounder numbers simplify discussion and planning.
The yard is traditionally used in football field measurements, where the field dimensions are typically given in yards. On the other hand, the foot finds its application more in construction and architectural planning, where detailed precision is necessary.
For international usage, the foot has a more standardized presence in aviation and many scientific contexts due to its inclusion in the International System of Units as an accepted non-SI unit of length. In contrast, the yard is less prominent in global scientific and technical fields.
While the yard and foot both originate from historical measurements based on the human body, their current standardized lengths provide consistency for usage in various applications ranging from everyday personal use to industry standards.
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Comparison Chart
Length
1 yard = 3 feet or 36 inches
1 foot = 12 inches
Usage in Sports
Common in football, cricket
Less common, except in golf
Common Usage
Measuring fabric, room size
Measuring height, short distances
Precision
Less precise for small measures
More precise for detailed work
International Use
Less used internationally
Widely used in aviation, science
Compare with Definitions
Yard
A yard is a unit of length equal to 3 feet or 36 inches.
He bought six yards of silk for the costume.
Foot
A foot is also a fundamental unit in surveying land.
The plot was 100 feet by 150 feet.
Yard
The yard is also used in expressions like "yard sale."
They found vintage lamps at the yard sale.
Foot
The phrase "foot the bill" uses the word in a figurative sense.
He had to foot the bill for the wedding.
Yard
A yardstick is a measuring stick one yard long.
She used a yardstick to measure the fabric.
Foot
A foot is a unit of length equal to 12 inches.
The shelf is exactly four feet wide.
Yard
In real estate, yard often refers to a residential lawn area.
Their new house has a spacious front yard.
Foot
Feet are commonly used to measure human height.
He is six feet tall.
Yard
Yards are commonly used to measure distances in various sports.
The quarterback threw a 50-yard pass.
Foot
In poetry, a foot refers to the basic unit of meter.
A common foot in English poetry is the iamb.
Yard
The yard (symbol: yd) is an English unit of length, in both the British imperial and US customary systems of measurement, that comprises 3 feet or 36 inches. Since 1959 it is by international agreement standardized as exactly 0.9144 meters.
Foot
The foot (plural: feet) is an anatomical structure found in many vertebrates. It is the terminal portion of a limb which bears weight and allows locomotion.
Yard
Abbr. yd. A fundamental unit of length in both the US Customary System and the British Imperial System, equal to 3 feet, or 36 inches (0.9144 meter). See Table at measurement.
Foot
The lower extremity of the leg below the ankle, on which a person stands or walks.
Yard
(Nautical) A long tapering spar slung to a mast to support and spread the head of a square sail, lugsail, or lateen.
Foot
A projecting part on which a piece of furniture or each of its legs stands.
Yard
A square yard
Bought 4 yards of fabric.
Foot
The lower or lowest part of something; the base or bottom
Complete the form at the foot of the page
The foot of the stairs
Yard
A cubic yard
Dug up 100 yards of soil.
Foot
A unit of linear measure equal to 12 inches (30.48 cm)
He's about six feet tall
Shallow water no more than a foot deep
Yard
A tract of ground next to, surrounding, or surrounded by a building or buildings.
Foot
A group of syllables constituting a metrical unit. In English poetry it consists of stressed and unstressed syllables, while in ancient classical poetry it consists of long and short syllables.
Yard
A tract of ground, often enclosed, used for a specific business or activity.
Foot
Cover a distance, especially a long one, on foot
The rider was left to foot it ten or twelve miles back to camp
Yard
A baseball park.
Foot
The lower extremity of the vertebrate leg that is in direct contact with the ground in standing or walking.
Yard
An area where railroad trains are made up and cars are switched, stored, and serviced on tracks and sidings.
Foot
A structure used for locomotion or attachment in an invertebrate animal, such as the muscular organ extending from the ventral side of a mollusk.
Yard
A somewhat sheltered area where deer or other browsing animals congregate during the winter.
Foot
The lowest part; the bottom:the foot of a mountain; the foot of a page.
Yard
An enclosed tract of ground in which animals, such as chickens or pigs, are kept.
Foot
The end opposite the head, top, or front:the foot of a bed; the foot of a parade.
Yard
To enclose, collect, or put into a yard.
Foot
The termination of the leg of a piece of furniture, especially when shaped or modeled.
Yard
To gather together into a yard
The deer are yarding up in their winter grounds.
Foot
The part of a sewing machine that holds down and guides the cloth.
Yard
A small, usually uncultivated area adjoining or (now especially) within the precincts of a house or other building.
Foot
(Nautical)The lower edge of a sail.
Yard
The property surrounding one's house, typically dominated by one's lawn.
Foot
(Printing)The part of a type body that forms the sides of the groove at the base.
Yard
An enclosed area designated for a specific purpose, e.g. on farms, railways etc.
Foot
(Botany)The base of the sporophyte in mosses and liverworts.
Yard
A place where moose or deer herd together in winter for pasture, protection, etc.
Foot
The inferior part or rank:at the foot of the class.
Yard
One’s house or home.
Foot
The part of a stocking or high-topped boot that encloses the foot.
Yard
A unit of length equal to 3 feet in the US customary and British imperial systems of measurement, equal to precisely 0.9144 m since 1959 (US) or 1963 (UK).
Foot
A manner of moving; a step:walks with a light foot.
Yard
Units of similar composition or length in other systems.
Foot
Speed or momentum, as in a race:"the only other Democrats who've demonstrated any foot till now"(Michael Kramer).
Yard
(nautical) Any spar carried aloft.
Foot
(used with a pl. verb)Foot soldiers; infantry.
Yard
(nautical) A long tapered timber hung on a mast to which is bent a sail, and may be further qualified as a square, lateen, or lug yard. The first is hung at right angles to the mast, the latter two hang obliquely.
Foot
A unit of poetic meter consisting of stressed and unstressed syllables in any of various set combinations. For example, an iambic foot has an unstressed followed by a stressed syllable.
Yard
(obsolete) A branch, twig, or shoot.
Foot
In classical quantitative verse, a unit of meter consisting of long and short syllables in any of various set combinations.
Yard
(obsolete) A staff, rod, or stick.
Foot
Abbr. ft. or ftA unit of length in the US Customary and British Imperial systems equal to 12 inches (0.3048 meter). See Table at measurement.
Yard
100 dollars.
Foot
FootsSediment that forms during the refining of oil and other liquids; dregs.
Yard
(obsolete) The yardland, an obsolete English unit of land roughly understood as 30 acres.
Foot
To go on foot; walk. Often used with it:When their car broke down, they had to foot it the rest of the way.
Yard
(obsolete) The rod, a surveying unit of (once) 15 or (now) 2 feet.
Foot
To dance. Often used with it:"We foot it all the night / weaving olden dances"(William Butler Yeats).
Yard
(obsolete) The rood, area bound by a square rod, 4 acre.
Foot
(Nautical)To make headway; sail.
Yard
(finance) 109, A short scale billion; a long scale thousand millions or milliard.
I need to hedge a yard of yen.
Foot
To go by foot over, on, or through; tread.
Yard
(transitive) To confine to a yard.
Foot
To execute the steps of (a dance).
Yard
To move a yard at a time, as opposed to inching along.
Foot
To add up (a column of numbers) and write the sum at the bottom; total:footed up the bill.
Yard
A rod; a stick; a staff.
If men smote it with a yerde.
Foot
To pay; defray:footed the expense of their children's education.
Yard
A branch; a twig.
The bitter frosts with the sleet and rainDestroyed hath the green in every yerd.
Foot
To provide (a stocking, for example) with a foot.
Yard
A long piece of timber, as a rafter, etc.
Foot
A biological structure found in many animals that is used for locomotion and that is frequently a separate organ at the terminal part of the leg.
A spider has eight feet.
Yard
A measure of length, equaling three feet, or thirty-six inches, being the standard of English and American measure.
Foot
(anatomy) Specifically, a human foot, which is found below the ankle and is used for standing and walking.
Southern Italy is shaped like a foot.
Yard
A long piece of timber, nearly cylindrical, tapering toward the ends, and designed to support and extend a square sail. A yard is usually hung by the center to the mast. See Illust. of Ship.
Foot
(often used attributively) Travel by walking.
We went there by foot because we could not afford a taxi.
There is a lot of foot traffic on this street.
Yard
A place where moose or deer herd together in winter for pasture, protection, etc.
Foot
The base or bottom of anything.
I'll meet you at the foot of the stairs.
Yard
An inclosure; usually, a small inclosed place in front of, or around, a house or barn; as, a courtyard; a cowyard; a barnyard.
A yard . . . inclosed all about with sticksIn which she had a cock, hight chanticleer.
Foot
The part of a flat surface on which the feet customarily rest.
We came and stood at the foot of the bed.
Yard
An inclosure within which any work or business is carried on; as, a dockyard; a shipyard.
Foot
The end of a rectangular table opposite the head.
The host should sit at the foot of the table.
Yard
To confine (cattle) to the yard; to shut up, or keep, in a yard; as, to yard cows.
Foot
A short foot-like projection on the bottom of an object to support it.
The feet of the stove hold it a safe distance above the floor.
Yard
A unit of length equal to 3 feet; defined as 91.44 centimeters; originally taken to be the average length of a stride
Foot
A unit of measure equal to twelve inches or one third of a yard, equal to exactly 30.48 centimetres.
The flag pole at the local high school is about 20 feet high.
Yard
The enclosed land around a house or other building;
It was a small house with almost no yard
Foot
(music) A unit of measure for organ pipes equal to the wavelength of two octaves above middle C, approximately 328 mm.
Yard
A tract of land enclosed for particular activities (sometimes paved and usually associated with buildings);
They opened a repair yard on the edge of town
Foot
Foot soldiers; infantry.
King John went to battle with ten thousand foot and one thousand horse.
Yard
An area having a network of railway tracks and sidings for storage and maintenance of cars and engines
Foot
(cigars) The end of a cigar which is lit, and usually cut before lighting.
Yard
An enclosure for animals (as chicken or livestock)
Foot
(sewing) The part of a sewing machine which presses downward on the fabric, and may also serve to move it forward.
Yard
A unit of volume (as for sand or gravel)
Foot
(printing) The bottommost part of a typed or printed page.
Yard
A long horizontal spar tapered at the end and used to support and spread a square sail or lateen
Foot
(printing) The base of a piece of type, forming the sides of the groove.
Yard
The cardinal number that is the product of 10 and 100
Foot
(prosody) The basic measure of rhythm in a poem.
Foot
(phonology) The parsing of syllables into prosodic constituents, which are used to determine the placement of stress in languages along with the notions of constituent heads.
Foot
(nautical) The bottom edge of a sail.
To make the mainsail fuller in shape, the outhaul is eased to reduce the tension on the foot of the sail.
Foot
(billiards) The end of a billiard or pool table behind the foot point where the balls are racked.
Foot
(botany) In a bryophyte, that portion of a sporophyte which remains embedded within and attached to the parent gametophyte plant.
Foot
(malacology) The muscular part of a bivalve mollusc or a gastropod by which it moves or holds its position on a surface.
Foot
(molecular biology) The globular lower domain of a protein.
Foot
(geometry) The point of intersection of one line with another that is perpendicular to it.
Foot
Fundamental principle; basis; plan.
Foot
Recognized condition; rank; footing.
Foot
(transitive) To use the foot to kick (usually a ball).
Foot
(transitive) To pay (a bill).
Foot
To tread to measure of music; to dance; to trip; to skip.
Foot
To walk.
Foot
To set foot on; to walk on.
Foot
(obsolete) To set on foot; to establish; to land.
Foot
To renew the foot of (a stocking, etc.).
Foot
To sum up, as the numbers in a column; sometimes with up.
To foot (or foot up) an account
Foot
The terminal part of the leg of man or an animal; esp., the part below the ankle or wrist; that part of an animal upon which it rests when standing, or moves. See Manus, and Pes.
Foot
The muscular locomotive organ of a mollusk. It is a median organ arising from the ventral region of body, often in the form of a flat disk, as in snails. See Illust. of Buccinum.
Foot
That which corresponds to the foot of a man or animal; as, the foot of a table; the foot of a stocking.
Foot
The lowest part or base; the ground part; the bottom, as of a mountain, column, or page; also, the last of a row or series; the end or extremity, esp. if associated with inferiority; as, the foot of a hill; the foot of the procession; the foot of a class; the foot of the bed; ; the foot of the page.
And now at footOf heaven's ascent they lift their feet.
Foot
Fundamental principle; basis; plan; - used only in the singular.
Answer directly upon the foot of dry reason.
Foot
Recognized condition; rank; footing; - used only in the singular.
As to his being on the foot of a servant.
Foot
A measure of length equivalent to twelve inches; one third of a yard. See Yard.
Foot
Soldiers who march and fight on foot; the infantry, usually designated as the foot, in distinction from the cavalry.
Foot
A combination of syllables consisting a metrical element of a verse, the syllables being formerly distinguished by their quantity or length, but in modern poetry by the accent.
Foot
The lower edge of a sail.
Foot
To tread to measure or music; to dance; to trip; to skip.
Foot
To walk; - opposed to ride or fly.
Foot
To kick with the foot; to spurn.
Foot
To set on foot; to establish; to land.
What confederacy have you with the traitorsLate footed in the kingdom?
Foot
To tread; as, to foot the green.
Foot
To sum up, as the numbers in a column; - sometimes with up; as, to foot (or foot up) an account.
Foot
To seize or strike with the talon.
Foot
To renew the foot of, as of a stocking.
If you are for a merry jaunt, I'll try, for once, who can foot it farthest.
Foot
A linear unit of length equal to 12 inches or a third of a yard;
He is six feet tall
Foot
The foot of a human being;
His bare feet projected from his trousers
Armored from head to foot
Foot
The lower part of anything;
Curled up on the foot of the bed
The foot of the page
The foot of the list
The foot of the mountain
Foot
Travel by foot;
He followed on foot
The swiftest of foot
Foot
A foot of a vertebrate other than a human being
Foot
A support resembling a pedal extremity;
One foot of the chair was on the carpet
Foot
Lowest support of a structure;
It was built on a base of solid rock
He stood at the foot of the tower
Foot
Any of various organs of locomotion or attachment in invertebrates
Foot
An army unit consisting of soldiers who fight on foot;
There came ten thousand horsemen and as many fully-armed foot
Foot
A member of a surveillance team who works on foot or rides as a passenger
Foot
A group of 2 or 3 syllables forming the basic unit of poetic rhythm
Foot
Pay for something;
Pick up the tab
Pick up the burden of high-interest mortgages
Foot the bill
Foot
Walk;
Let's hoof it to the disco
Foot
Add a column of numbers
Common Curiosities
What is a yard?
A yard is a unit of length equal to 3 feet or 36 inches, used in the Imperial and U.S. customary systems.
Why is a yard used more in sports?
A yard is used more in sports for ease of measuring larger distances, such as in football or cricket.
How did the yard and foot originate?
Both originated from the human body; the foot as the length of a human foot and the yard as the distance from the tip of the nose to the end of the middle finger.
Can I use yards and feet interchangeably?
While interchangeable in concept, using yards and feet interchangeably can lead to precision issues depending on the context.
Is a foot or a yard more accurate for detailed measurements?
A foot provides more precision and is thus more suitable for detailed measurements in fields like construction.
What is a foot?
A foot is a unit of length equal to 12 inches, widely used in the English-speaking world.
How many feet are in a yard?
There are 3 feet in a yard.
What are common uses of feet in everyday life?
Common uses include measuring height, furniture dimensions, and small room areas.
Are feet accepted in scientific measurements?
Feet are accepted in many scientific and technical fields globally, especially in aviation.
Are yards used internationally?
Yards are used in countries that employ the Imperial system, like the UK and the US, but less so elsewhere.
What are some expressions involving the word 'yard'?
Common expressions include "yard sale" and "whole nine yards."
Why might someone choose to use feet over yards?
For greater accuracy in measurement, especially in detailed construction and design tasks.
What are some expressions involving the word 'foot'?
Expressions like "foot the bill" and "on foot" are common.
How are feet used in poetry?
In poetry, a foot is a basic unit of rhythm and meter.
How are yards used in real estate?
Yards are often referred to in terms of yard space or garden area in real estate.
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Written by
Tayyaba RehmanTayyaba Rehman is a distinguished writer, currently serving as a primary contributor to askdifference.com. As a researcher in semantics and etymology, Tayyaba's passion for the complexity of languages and their distinctions has found a perfect home on the platform. Tayyaba delves into the intricacies of language, distinguishing between commonly confused words and phrases, thereby providing clarity for readers worldwide.
Co-written by
Urooj ArifUrooj is a skilled content writer at Ask Difference, known for her exceptional ability to simplify complex topics into engaging and informative content. With a passion for research and a flair for clear, concise writing, she consistently delivers articles that resonate with our diverse audience.
