The short ton is a unit of mass equal to 2000 lb (exactly 907.18474 kg). In the United States it is often called simply "ton" without distinguishing it from the metric ton (or tonne) and the long ton (2240 pounds) —rather, the other two are specifically noted. There are, however, some U.S. applications for which "tons", even if unidentified, are usually long tons (e.g., Navy ships) or metric tons (e.g., world grain production figures).

Both long and short tons are defined as 20 hundredweights, but a hundredweight is 112 pounds (which is equal to 8 stone) in the Imperial system (long or gross hundredweight) and 100 pounds in the US system (short or net hundredweight).

The spelling "tonne" denotes the metric tonne of 1000 kilograms (approximately 2204.623 pounds).

See also

• Long ton
• Tonne

Units of mass | Customary units in the United States

Short ton | Американская тонна