染色体倍性是指细胞内同源染色体的数目，只有一组称为「单套」或「单倍体」（haploid），两组称为「双套」或「二倍体」（diploid）。

多倍体又分异源多倍体（Allopolyploidy）和单源多倍体（Autopolyploidy），前者的染色体来自不同种。

在双套生物中，有一个过程，将双倍体的细胞分裂成单倍体，使配子结合后的合子为双倍体，称为减数分裂。

有些生物以倍性来作决定性别：雌性为双倍体，雄性为单倍体。

有些生物是多倍体（polyploid），有多于两套染色体，譬如金鱼、鲑鱼、蚂蟥、扁形虫、有尾目和蕨类植物。多套的动物通常都是低等动物，孤雌生殖居多。

Ploidy is the number of sets of chromosomes in a cell. Usually a gamete (sperm or egg, which fuse into a single cell during the fertilization phase of sexual reproduction) carries a full set of chromosomes that includes a single copy of each chromosome, as aneuploidy generally leads to severe genetic disease in the offspring. The gametic or haploid number (n) is the number of chromosomes in a gamete. Two gametes form a diploid zygote with twice this number (2n, the zygotic or diploid number) i.e. two copies of autosomal chromosomes. For humans, a diploid species, n = 23. A typical human somatic cell contains 46 chromosomes: 2 complete haploid sets, which make up 23 homologous chromosome pairs.