Understanding paperweights can be difficult. Trust us, we know. So we here at Paperworks.com have designed this sheet to try and simplify the different terms you may hear in association with paperweight. The term paperweight, and number corresponding with each weight, refers to the thickness and sturdiness of the paper, not the actual weight of the sheet.

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This is why, sometimes, the same "weight" paper may be referred to as two different things. For instance, regular everyday copy paper is most commonly referred to as a "20 lb. bond" but is other times referred to as a "50 lb. text weight." To eliminate as much confusion as possible, we have chosen GSM as our conversion reference point because it is a definite and universal measure of the paper. GSM stands for grams per square meter, which is the actual weight of the sheet.