Five tablespoons and one teaspoon equal one-third of a cup. It is impossible to put a round number of tablespoons into 1/3 cup. However, as a tablespoon is equivalent to 3 teaspoons, 5 1/3 tablespoons are likewise equal to 1/3 cup.
By standard measurement, one cup requires precisely 16 tablespoons. When the measurement is divided into 1/3 or 1/6 cup, teaspoon measurements or fractions of tablespoons must be used in addition to tablespoon measures. These units are designed for measuring liquids and powders for recipes. The tablespoon is a standard unit of measurement in the United States, but it is not often used in other nations.
