When we refer to the world's largest river in terms of total water volume and size of drainage basin, which river are we talking about?

Introduction / Context:
Rivers can be compared in many ways, such as length, volume of water, drainage area, or economic importance. Geography based multiple choice questions often distinguish between the longest river and the largest river. In competitive exams, the term largest river usually refers to the river that carries the greatest total volume of water and drains the largest basin. This question checks whether you can identify that river correctly and differentiate it from other famous rivers like the Nile and the Mississippi Missouri system.

Given Data / Assumptions:

• The phrase largest river is interpreted in the standard geography sense of maximum discharge volume and basin size.
• We are comparing major world rivers: Amazon, Brahmaputra, Mississippi Missouri, and Nile.
• We ignore seasonal and minor measurement variations and focus on generally accepted geographic rankings.
• The task is to pick the river that is largest rather than longest.

Concept / Approach:
The Nile is often cited as the longest river in the world, although there is some debate about minor measurement differences. However, when we talk about largest river by total water carried and by drainage basin, geography texts routinely name the Amazon River in South America. The Amazon basin covers a huge area of tropical rainforest and delivers an enormous volume of freshwater into the Atlantic Ocean. Therefore, the correct approach is to remember that longest and largest are two different categories, and the Amazon holds the record for being the largest.

Step-by-Step Solution:
Step 1: Recall that the Nile and the Amazon are the two main candidates in most record lists. Step 2: Identify what the question is asking for: largest, not longest. Step 3: Note that largest refers to discharge volume and basin size rather than simple length in kilometres. Step 4: The Amazon River has the highest average discharge of any river on Earth and drains a vast rainforest region. Step 5: Therefore, the Amazon is accepted as the largest river in the world in terms of water volume.

Verification / Alternative check:
You can verify this by consulting standard school atlases and geography textbooks, which usually carry separate facts about the longest river and the largest river. The Amazon is listed as having a massive discharge that is greater than that of several other big rivers combined. Satellite measurements and hydrological studies consistently confirm this ranking. The Nile, while very long, flows mostly through arid regions and therefore has a lower discharge volume than the Amazon.

Why Other Options Are Wrong:
The Brahmaputra is a mighty river of Asia, but its discharge and basin size are smaller than those of the Amazon, so option B is incorrect. The Mississippi and Missouri form a long combined system in North America, but their discharge is also less than that of the Amazon, so option C does not fit the requirement. The Nile is widely known as the longest river, but not the largest by volume, so option D is not the right answer here. Only the Amazon matches the criterion of being the largest river by water volume and basin area.

Common Pitfalls:
A frequent mistake is to confuse the two superlatives and select the Nile because it is memorised as the longest river. Another pitfall is not reading the phrase largest river carefully in the question stem. Some students also guess based on the popularity of a name without recalling the specific definition. To avoid these errors, always ask whether the question is about length, volume, or basin size and then recall that the Amazon is largest while the Nile is usually cited as longest.

Final Answer:
The world's largest river in terms of water volume and drainage area is The Amazon River.