根据使用方式，美国本土（英语：contiguous United States）一词可以代表：

其中第一个意思较为常用，历史更悠久，在阿拉斯加建州前就在使用。为了避免这两个意思的混淆，用下列几个词来代表不包含阿拉斯加的北美洲美国领土：

The contiguous United States consists of the 48 adjoining U.S. states plus Washington, D.C. (federal district), on the continent of North America. The term excludes the non-contiguous states of Alaska and Hawaii and all off-shore United States territories and possessions, which include American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.