Key difference: The term America or Americas actually refers to the lands in the Western Hemisphere. These lands, or New World, actually comprises of the continents of North America and South America. The United States of America is a country located in North America. It is made up of 50 states and a federal district. It is also referred to as the United States, USA, U.S.A., US or U.S.

In actuality, the terms America and USA refer to two completely different things. They are however related and this relationship is actually the cause of the confusion.

The term America or Americas actually refers to the lands in the Western Hemisphere. They are often also known as the New World. These lands, or New World, actually comprises of the continents of North America and South America. The Americas make up about 28.4% of the world’s land area. The entire length of the Americas from North to South is approximately 14,000 km (8,699 mi).

Christopher Columbus is generally attributed as discovering America; however the Americas were already populated with an indigenous population, and had actually been already visited and settled by the Norse explorer Leif Ericson. However, the Norse colonization was later abandoned, while Columbus’ was successful and eventually resulted in a permanent contact with Europe.

The United States of America is a country located in North America. It is made up of 50 states and a federal district. It is also referred to as the United States, USA, U.S.A., US or U.S. The United States of America is a federal republic and is the third largest country by land area and population in the world. It has a total area of 3.79 million square miles (9.83 million km2) and a population of around 315 million people.

The country was first settled by the English in the 1600s. It remained a British colony until July 4, 1776, when the 13 colonies declared independence from Great Britain by signing the Declaration of Independence, following the American Revolutionary War. The United States of America is currently the world's largest national economy and is considered as a superpower in the modern world.

The term Americas, i.e. in plural and even the singular America, generally refers to continents of North and South America. However, the singular ‘America’ is also commonly used as a short name for the United States of America. When used in a sentence, without a clarifying context, the term, America will more often than not refer to the United States of America.

For example:

I live in America.

I work in America.

I am planning to go to America for the summer.

In these instances, the speaker most probably is referring to the United States. In fact, it can be safe to assume that the general public is usually referring to the United States of America, when using the term, America.

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