How big is that area, drawn to scale?

Area is the measurement people misjudge worst, because doubling a length quadruples the space. Drawn as squares, the difference is obvious.

The area Unit

71% of a three-bed house

100 m² is bigger than 4 of the 9 references on this page.

Reference figures are measurements and are rounded; the unit conversion behind them is exact.

Every reference on this page, with its size and its ratio to your number
Reference	Size	Yours ÷ theirs
sheet of A4 paper	0.0624 m²	1,603×
king-size bed	3.86 m²	25.9×
parking space	12.5 m²	8×
studio flat	35 m²	2.86×
three-bed house	140 m²	0.714×
tennis court	261 m²	0.383×
basketball court	437 m²	0.229×
acre	4,047 m²	1/40.5
soccer pitch	7,140 m²	1/71.4

A room twice as long and twice as wide is four times the floor area, which is why extensions cost so much more than they look.
An acre was originally the area one man with one ox could plough in a day — a long thin strip, not a square.

Frequently asked

4 046.86 m², or about 40% of a hectare. As a square it is 63.6 m on a side; the traditional shape was a furlong by a chain, 220 by 22 yards.

Exactly 10 000 m² — a square 100 m on a side, or a bit larger than a football pitch. It is the metric field unit and is 2.471 acres.