Many means a large number of things or people. When you have many books on your shelf, you have quite a few of them, more than two or three. When many students raise their hands to answer a question, lots of kids want to participate.

The word helps us talk about quantity without being exact. You might not know the precise number of stars in the sky, but you know there are many of them. Your teacher might say many of you did well on the spelling test, meaning a good portion of the class succeeded.

Many works differently depending on what you're counting. You can say many marbles or many ideas, but you wouldn't say many water (you'd say much water instead). The difference is that marbles and ideas are separate, countable things, while water is one continuous substance.

When someone asks “how many?” they want to know a number: How many cookies are left? The answer might be exact (seven cookies) or approximate (not many, or quite a few). People also use many for emphasis, as in “I've told you many times to clean your room!”