Tablespoons to cups converter, when the amount is small.

To convert tablespoons to cups, divide the tablespoons by 16. So 4 tablespoons is 0.25 cup, 8 tablespoons is 0.5 cup and 12 tablespoons is 0.75 cup. Anything under 16 is less than a full cup. The hard part is the odd amounts: 5 tablespoons is 0.3125 cup, and no cup on a measuring set holds that, so this page also says what to pick up.

How to use the converter

1. Type the tablespoons in the US tablespoons (tbsp) box, for example 10.
2. The big result shows US cups as a decimal. The cards give fluid ounces, teaspoons, milliliters and nutrition label cups.
3. Look in Common values for the same amount as a fraction of a cup and as half cups, quarter cups and spoons to measure with.
4. Type cups in the second box to get tablespoons, or open the Cups to tablespoons page.
5. Use Copy result or Copy link, or Print chart for a sheet that goes from 1 to 128 tablespoons.

The definition

NIST Handbook 44 (2026), Appendix C gives 1 cup, measuring, as 8 fluid ounces exactly, and 1 tablespoon, measuring, as half a fluid ounce exactly. So a tablespoon is exactly one sixteenth of a cup. Page checked 18 Oct 2026. The same table gives 3 teaspoons to the tablespoon, which makes a cup 48 teaspoons. In milliliters a tablespoon is 14.787 mL and a cup is 236.588 mL. NIST notes that the tablespoon and teaspoon in milliliters are rounded to the nearest milliliter, to 15 and 5, which is the figure food labels use.

A shortcut: halve four times

Divide by 16 by halving four times. For 20 tablespoons: 10, then 5, then 2.5, then 1.25 cups. It is exact for US sizes. For small amounts count in quarter cups, which are 4 tablespoons each: 6 tablespoons is one quarter cup and 2 tablespoons. The shortcut only goes wrong when the spoon and cup come from different places. A recipe from a country with a 15 mL spoon and a 250 mL cup has 16.67 spoons to the cup, so 10 of its tablespoons are 0.6 cup and not 0.625. That is 4.17 percent apart.

Worked examples

• 3 tablespoons. 3 ÷ 16 = 0.1875 cup, which is 3/16. Measure it as 1/8 cup (2 tablespoons) plus 1 tablespoon.
• 5 tablespoons. 5 ÷ 16 = 0.3125 cup. That is 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon, and it is a little less than a third of a cup, which is 5.333 tablespoons.
• 6 tablespoons. 6 ÷ 16 = 0.375 cup, or 3/8 cup. Use 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons.
• 10 tablespoons. 10 ÷ 16 = 0.625 cup, or 5/8. Use 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons.
• 24 tablespoons. 24 ÷ 16 = 1.5 cups, which is 12 fluid ounces.

From tablespoons to the cups and spoons you hold

The decimal is correct and not always useful. The last column says what to reach for. A half cup is 8 tablespoons and a quarter cup is 4.

For amounts from 16 up, take whole cups first and then look up the rest. 20 tablespoons is 1 cup plus 4 tablespoons, which is 1 1/4 cups. If you only have a tablespoon, you can count the 16 spoons, but a cup is quicker and less likely to slip.

Mistakes that are specific to tablespoons

The first is dividing by the wrong number. Tablespoons to cups is a division by 16. Teaspoons to cups is a division by 48, so 3 teaspoons is only 0.0625 cup. The second is taking a decimal at face value. 0.375 cup is 3/8 cup, which is 6 tablespoons, because 0.375 × 16 = 6. No marked cup shows 0.375, so use the table. The third is a heaped spoon. A recipe that says tablespoon means a level one, and a heaped spoon holds noticeably more, so the sums on this page are for level spoons. The fourth is a tablespoon of the wrong size. A spoon from the cutlery drawer is not a measure, and its size varies.

Who uses tablespoons to cups

Cooks who want to make a double batch and need to add up small amounts. People reading a recipe that gives tablespoons when they would rather use a cup. Bakers who need to check a note such as 12 tablespoons of butter. If you start from cups, use the Cups to tablespoons. For fluid ounces and milliliters see the Oz to mL.