Candy vs. Candies — What's the Difference?

Confectionery Category.

Variety of Confections.

Single Piece.

Multiple Pieces.

Nutritional Aspect.

Comparison of Nutritional Content.

General Concept.

Assortment in Gifts.

Candy, also called sweets (British English) or lollies (Australian English, New Zealand English), is a confection that features sugar as a principal ingredient. The category, called sugar confectionery, encompasses any sweet confection, including chocolate, chewing gum, and sugar candy.

Diverse Flavors and Types.

A rich sweet confection made with sugar and often flavored or combined with fruits or nuts.

A rich sweet confection made with sugar and often flavored or combined with fruits or nuts.

A piece of such a confection.

A piece of such a confection.

(Slang) An illicit drug, especially one, such as cocaine, that has a sugary appearance or a drug in pill form, such as MDMA.

(Slang) An illicit drug, especially one, such as cocaine, that has a sugary appearance or a drug in pill form, such as MDMA.

To cook, preserve, saturate, or coat with sugar or syrup

To cook, preserve, saturate, or coat with sugar or syrup

Edible, sweet-tasting confectionery containing sugar, or sometimes artificial sweeteners, and often flavored with fruit, chocolate, nuts, herbs and spices, or artificial flavors.

Plural of candie

A piece of confectionery of this kind.

Plural of candy

Crack cocaine.

(uncountable) An accessory (bracelet, etc.) made from pony beads, associated with the rave scene.

(obsolete) A unit of mass used in southern India, equal to twenty maunds, roughly equal to 500 pounds avoirdupois but varying locally.

(cooking) To cook in, or coat with, sugar syrup.

(intransitive) To have sugar crystals form in or on.

(intransitive) To be formed into candy; to solidify in a candylike form or mass.

To conserve or boil in sugar; as, to candy fruits; to candy ginger.

To make sugar crystals of or in; to form into a mass resembling candy; as, to candy sirup.

To incrust with sugar or with candy, or with that which resembles sugar or candy.

To have sugar crystals form in or on; as, fruits preserved in sugar candy after a time.

To be formed into candy; to solidify in a candylike form or mass.

Any sweet, more or less solid article of confectionery, especially those prepared in small bite-sized pieces or small bars, having a wide variety of shapes, consistencies, and flavors, and manufactured in a variety of ways. It is often flavored or colored, or covered with chocolate, and sometimes contains fruit, nuts, etc.; it is often made by boiling sugar or molasses to the desired consistency, and than crystallizing, molding, or working in the required shape. Other types may consist primarily of chocolate or a sweetened gelatin. The term may be applied to a single piece of such confection or to the substance of which it is composed.

Cocaine.

A weight, at Madras 500 pounds, at Bombay 560 pounds.

A rich sweet made of flavored sugar and often combined with fruit or nuts

Coat with something sweet, such as a hard sugar glaze

Use "candy" when talking about the category as a whole or a single piece/item, and "candies" when referring to multiple pieces or types of candy.

The production of candy has evolved from simple, handmade sweets to complex, mass-produced confections with a wide variety of ingredients, flavors, and packaging designed to extend shelf life and enhance appeal.

Yes, "candies" can refer to multiple quantities of a single type, emphasizing the number of pieces rather than the variety.

"Candy" can be used as an uncountable noun to refer to confectionery in general but not as a plural noun. "Candies" is the correct plural form when referring to multiple types or pieces.

Yes, in American English, "candy" refers to all types of sweet confections, while in British English, "sweets" is more commonly used, and "candy" might specifically refer to crystallized sugar confections.

While "candy" broadly encompasses a wide range of sweet confections, cultural and regional preferences might distinguish certain sweets from what is typically classified as "candy."

Candy plays a significant role in global cultures, often associated with celebrations, holidays, and as a universal symbol of joy and treat.

Health considerations include managing sugar intake, potential allergies to specific ingredients, and the impact on dental health.

Candy is the singular form, managing sugar intake, potential allergies to specific ingredients, and the impact on dental health .

Candy canes are a staple candy during the Christmas season.