---
title: "Msk: what it means in cooking — Tiny Plates"
description: "Msk, short for matsked, is the Swedish tablespoon and holds exactly 15 ml. It equals 3 tsk and is close enough to a US tablespoon to swap directly."
url: "https://www.tinyplates.dev/glossary/msk"
---

# Msk

Msk, short for matsked, is the Swedish tablespoon and holds exactly 15 ml. It equals 3 tsk and is close enough to a US tablespoon to swap directly.

Also called Matsked, Matskedar, Swedish tablespoon.

Msk is short for _matsked_, which means tablespoon in Swedish. In a Swedish measuring set it holds exactly 15 ml. Swedish, and many other Nordic, recipes use it for butter, oil, sugar, flour, syrup and sauces in amounts too small for a [deciliter](https://www.tinyplates.dev/glossary/deciliter) measure. The plural is _matskedar_, but recipes write msk for both.

## How to do it

1. Fill the msk measure with the ingredient.
2. For dry ingredients, sweep it [level](https://www.tinyplates.dev/glossary/level) with a knife unless the recipe says _rågad_ (heaping).
3. For sticky ingredients such as syrup or honey, wipe the spoon with a drop of oil first, so it slides out.
4. For butter, a block marked in grams is easier: 1 msk of butter is about 14 to 15 g.

## How to use it

The Swedish spoon and cup units are exact metric amounts:

| Swedish unit                                                 | Exact value | Same as       |
| ------------------------------------------------------------ | ----------- | ------------- |
| 1 [krm](https://www.tinyplates.dev/glossary/krm) (kryddmått) | 1 ml        |               |
| 1 [tsk](https://www.tinyplates.dev/glossary/tsk) (tesked)    | 5 ml        | 5 krm         |
| 1 msk (matsked)                                              | 15 ml       | 3 tsk, 15 krm |
| 1 dl (deciliter)                                             | 100 ml      | about 6⅔ msk  |

Compared with other countries:

| Tablespoon                                                      | Volume  |
| --------------------------------------------------------------- | ------- |
| Swedish msk                                                     | 15 ml   |
| US [tablespoon](https://www.tinyplates.dev/glossary/tablespoon) | 14.8 ml |
| UK tablespoon                                                   | 15 ml   |
| Australian tablespoon                                           | 20 ml   |

So 1 msk and 1 US or UK tablespoon are the same for cooking. Use them one for one. Only the Australian tablespoon is different, holding a third more.

## Common mistakes

* Using an eating spoon. A soup spoon from the drawer can hold anywhere from about 7 to 20 ml.
* Reading msk as a teaspoon. Mixing up msk and tsk gives three times too much or too little.
* Converting 2 msk into a fraction of a deciliter and measuring it in a dl cup. Small amounts are more accurate with spoons.

## In recipes

You will see "2 msk smör" (2 tablespoons butter), "1 msk olivolja" (olive oil), "3 msk socker" (sugar) and "1 msk ljus sirap" (light syrup).

## Related terms

* [TskTsk, short for tesked, is the Swedish teaspoon and holds exactly 5 ml. It equals 5 krm or a third of a msk, and swaps one for one with a US teaspoon.](https://www.tinyplates.dev/glossary/tsk)
* [KrmKrm, short for kryddmått, is the Swedish spice measure and holds exactly 1 ml. Here is how it compares to tsk, msk and US teaspoons.](https://www.tinyplates.dev/glossary/krm)
* [DeciliterA deciliter (dl) is exactly 100 ml, the main volume unit in Swedish and Nordic recipes. See how it compares to cups and what 1 dl weighs.](https://www.tinyplates.dev/glossary/deciliter)
* [TablespoonA tablespoon is about 15 ml in the US, UK and Sweden but 20 ml in Australia. It equals 3 teaspoons. Here is how to measure and convert it.](https://www.tinyplates.dev/glossary/tablespoon)
* [MilliliterA milliliter (ml) is a thousandth of a liter, the metric unit for measuring liquids. See how ml converts to teaspoons, cups and fluid ounces.](https://www.tinyplates.dev/glossary/milliliter)
* [LevelA level measure is filled to the rim and swept flat with a knife. Unless a recipe says heaping or packed, every spoon and cup should be level.](https://www.tinyplates.dev/glossary/level)

[More in measurements](https://www.tinyplates.dev/glossary/category/measurements)[Every term from A to Z](https://www.tinyplates.dev/glossary)