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11 inches is 27.94 centimeters (279.4 mm), or 0.92 feet: just one inch short of a foot. It is the long side of a standard sheet of US Letter paper, and about the length of an NFL football.
How big is 11 inches?
Picture a regular 12-inch ruler and cover the last inch: that is 11 inches. In metric, it is 27.94 cm, a little under 28 cm. Here it is next to the nearby quarter-inch steps, the way a US tape measure reads.
| Inches | Centimeters | Millimeters | Feet | Yards |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 ½ | 26.67 | 266.7 | 0.88 | 0.29 |
| 10 ¾ | 27.31 | 273.1 | 0.90 | 0.30 |
| 11 | 27.94 | 279.4 | 0.92 | 0.31 |
| 11 ¼ | 28.58 | 285.8 | 0.94 | 0.31 |
| 11 ½ | 29.21 | 292.1 | 0.96 | 0.32 |
The fastest everyday check is a sheet of printer paper. A US Letter sheet is 8.5 × 11 inches, so its long side is exactly 11 inches.
What items are 11 inches?
These objects are exactly or almost exactly 11 inches along one side. All of them are drawn to scale against the same ruler.
1. An 11 × 14 Picture
11 × 14 is one of the standard print and frame sizes, a step up from 8 × 10. Its short side is exactly 11 inches.
It is also the classic frame for an 8 × 10 photo with a mat: the mat adds 1.5 inches on two sides and 2 inches on the other two.
2. A Sheet of Tabloid Paper
Tabloid paper, also called ledger, measures 11 × 17 inches: exactly two Letter sheets side by side. Its short side is 11 inches.
Office printers that handle tabloid are often called “11 × 17 printers”; the size is common for posters, menus and spreadsheets.
3. An American Football
NFL rules set the ball’s length at 11 to 11¼ inches, tip to tip, with a long-axis circumference of 28 to 28½ inches. College and high school balls are close to that size; youth balls are smaller.
So when you hold a regulation football, you are holding 11 inches of length, just shy of a foot.
4. An 11½-Inch Fashion Doll
The classic fashion doll, the size introduced with Barbie in 1959, stands about 11½ inches tall. That is why doll clothes are sold as “11 inch” or “11.5 inch” sizes.
Dolls from other brands copy the size so that clothes and furniture fit across collections.
5. Jeans with an 11-Inch Rise
The rise is the distance from the top of the waistband to the crotch seam. Many brands call a front rise of 10 inches or more high-rise, so an 11-inch rise sits at or above the natural waist on most people.
Rise is the number to check if you want jeans that stay put when you sit; inseam only tells you the leg length.
6. A Roll of Paper Towels
Most paper towel sheets sold in the US are about 11 inches wide, so a standard roll stands about 11 inches tall. Many brands now perforate the sheets at about 6 inches as well, for smaller “select-a-size” pieces.
Grab a roll from the kitchen and you have an 11-inch height reference in seconds; check your brand’s label, since sizes vary slightly.
7. A Letter-Size Binder
A three-ring binder made for 8.5 × 11 paper is a little taller than the paper itself, about 11.5 inches, so the covers protect the edges of the pages.
Its width depends on the ring size: a 1-inch binder is a little over 10 inches wide, and larger rings add to the spine.
When “11 inches” isn’t 11 inches
Several popular 11-inch products are named after a measurement you cannot see at a glance. These three come up constantly in searches.
8. An 11-Inch Tablet
Tablet sizes are screen diagonals. An 11-inch iPad Air measures 247.6 × 178.5 mm, or 9.74 × 7.03 inches overall, and no edge of it is 11 inches long.
That is also why “is an 11-inch iPad big enough?” is such a common question: it is a little smaller than a sheet of Letter paper, comfortable for notes and reading, while the 13-inch model is closer to a full page. Apple’s old 11-inch MacBook Air worked the same way: its screen actually measured 11.6 inches diagonally.
9. An 11-Inch Softball
Softballs are sized by circumference. An 11-inch softball is 11 inches around, so its diameter is only 3.50 inches. Young fastpitch players (10 and under) usually play with 11-inch balls; older players move to the 12-inch ball.
If you need an 11-inch reference for length, a softball will not help: it is 11 inches around, not across.
10. A Bin for an 11-Inch Cube Organizer
Popular cube shelves come in two sizes, with openings about 11 inches or 13 inches square. The fabric bins sold for the 11-inch size are usually about 10.5 inches wide, so they slide in with a little room to spare.
Measure the opening of your shelf before buying bins: a bin made for a 13-inch cube will not fit an 11-inch one.
11 inches vs. 12 and 13 inches
The “11 vs 12” and “11 vs 13” comparisons are among the most searched for this size. One or two inches sounds small, but it adds up quickly for anything round or flat.
- Pizza: a 12-inch pizza has 19% more surface than an 11-inch one, from just one extra inch of width.
- Tablets: a 13-inch tablet has roughly 40% more screen area than an 11-inch model with the same shape, which is why the bigger one feels like a full sheet of paper.
- Softballs: the step from an 11-inch to a 12-inch ball is one inch of circumference, only about a third of an inch more in diameter, but older players feel the difference right away.
- Rulers: 11 inches is a 12-inch ruler minus its last inch, the easiest way to picture the gap.
What does 11 inches look like on a ruler?
On a standard 12-inch ruler, 11 is the last numbered mark before the end of the ruler. On a tape measure, it sits just before the 1-foot mark, which many tapes label “1F” or print in a different color. Read from the very end of the tape hook, not from the first printed number, or you will be off by the width of the hook.
If you work in metric, the 28 cm mark is the closest whole number: 11 inches lands just before it, at 27.94 cm.
Is 11 inches a foot?
No. A foot is 12 inches, so 11 inches is one inch short, or 11/12 of a foot (0.92 feet). In centimeters the gap is 2.54 cm: 11 inches is 27.94 cm, while a foot is 30.48 cm.
8.5 × 11 vs. A4
Most of the world uses A4 paper instead of US Letter. The two look alike, but they are not the same size.
| Paper | Inches | Centimeters |
|---|---|---|
| US Letter | 8.5 × 11 | 21.59 × 27.94 |
| A4 | 8.27 × 11.69 | 21.0 × 29.7 |
A4 is about a quarter inch narrower and about seven tenths of an inch longer, so the 11-inch side of a Letter sheet is the shorter of the two long sides.
11 inches compared to the human body
- Shoe sizes are not inches. A US size 11 shoe does not mean an 11-inch foot; sizing is its own scale. Measure your foot from heel to longest toe and use the brand’s chart.
- Your forearm: for many adults, the distance from the inside of the elbow to the wrist crease is somewhere around 10 to 11 inches.
- Your hand: few adult hands reach 11 inches from wrist to fingertip; most are well under that, which makes 11 inches longer than it feels.
11 inches in diameter
A circle 11 inches across has a circumference of 34.56 inches (87.78 cm) and an area of 95.03 square inches (613.12 cm²). That is the size of an 11-inch pizza, which some shops sell as their medium and others as a large personal pie.
11 inches vs. nearby sizes
| Length | In cm | Everyday example |
|---|---|---|
| 9 in | 22.86 cm | A standard pie plate |
| 10 in | 25.4 cm | A 10-inch dinner plate |
| 11 in | 27.94 cm | The long side of US Letter paper |
| 12 in | 30.48 cm | A 12-inch LP record, or 1 foot |
| 13 in | 33.02 cm | A 13-inch tablet screen, measured diagonally |
How to measure 11 inches without a ruler
- A sheet of Letter paper: the long side is exactly 11 inches.
- A 12-inch ruler minus one: stop one inch short of the end.
- An 11 × 14 or 11 × 17 sheet: the short side is 11 inches.
- A regulation football: tip to tip, it is 11 to 11¼ inches.
More sizes to compare
- What 8 inches looks like: 20.32 cm, and why an “8-inch” block is 7⅝ inches
- What 9 inches looks like: 22.86 cm, from a pie dish to a paint roller
- What 10 inches looks like: 25.4 cm, from a saw blade to a 10-inch rough-in toilet
- 30 cm in inches: 11.81 in, just short of a foot
- Inches to cm converter: any length in inches, with a 1–100 inch chart and fractions
FAQs
11 inches is exactly 27.94 cm, or 279.4 mm.
No. A foot is 12 inches, so 11 inches is one inch short, about 0.92 feet.
A US Letter sheet, 8.5 × 11 inches, is 21.59 × 27.94 cm.
The 11 inches is the screen diagonal. An 11-inch iPad Air measures about 9.74 × 7.03 inches overall.
No. US shoe sizes are their own scale, not inches. Measure your foot from heel to longest toe and check the brand’s size chart.
5 feet 11 inches is 71 inches, which is 180.34 cm, or about 1.80 meters.
Looking for a smaller size? See what 10 inches looks like, or convert any length with the inches to cm converter.