By Number of Sleepers
Tents can be categorized by sleeping capacity: single-person tents, two-person tents, three-person tents, four-person tents, and tents accommodating five or more people are considered multi-person tents. Larger family camping tents can typically sleep around 12-13 people. Military tents can accommodate more people. Depending on their size, some military tents can sleep up to 40 people. Larger structures like banquet tents and circus tents are not intended for sleeping but rather for events, accommodating hundreds to thousands of people. However, these are beyond the scope of this discussion. The tents covered in this manual generally refer to camping tents designed for 13 people or fewer.