When you say there are plenty of cats in the street, it means there are enough cats, or more than enough (= too many).

If you say that you have plenty of money in your bank account, you’re in a good position. It means you have enough money.

If you go on a picnic and you’ve taken plenty of food, it means you won’t be hungry.

So plenty means enough or as much as you need.

Please note you can use plenty with the singular and the plural. So with one thing or with many things.

See for yourself what the difference is:

Singular: There is plenty of flour in the cupboard.

Plural: There are plenty of pencils in the drawer.

By the way, there is an idiom that says: “plenty more fish in the sea” or “there are plenty of fish in the sea.” When do you say this? Especially when someone has been dumped by their lover, or it didn’t work out with this lover. So you say to this person, there are plenty more fish in the sea. It means there are many more nice people in the world that they can date. Warning: It’s a cliché! (= an expression that is used too much).

Exercise

Do this exercise online here.

Rewrite the sentences using plenty.

Here is an example first:

That health bar is full of calories, so be careful!

That health bar has plenty of calories, so be careful!

1 It’s nice that there are many waiters in the restaurant, so you get your food quickly.

2 Quite a lot of students were interested in the new course.

3 We were shocked when many strawberries at the bottom of the container were rotting.

4 I take many books with me on the trip, and I hope I’ll have time to read them!

5 Drink a lot of water when you’re out in the sunshine all day.

6 The garden looks great when there are many flowers.

7 There is still a lot of coffee in the pot!

8 Although a lot of research has been done on cancer, the disease is still more clever than we are.

9 It’s true that school teachers have lots of holidays.

10 Many jobs were lost when the factory needed to close.