How human beings use corn depends largely on their standard of living. Primitive peoples and subsistence farmers tend to use corn mainly for human food. In countries with a higher standard of living corn is used mostly for animal feed and in the manufacture of other products. Most corn products are made from ground kernels. The dry milling (grinding) process produces corn meal. The wet process is used in making starch, syrup, alcohol, and other products.

Corn, in the form of grain, fodder, or silage, is used as feed for cattle, hogs, and other livestock and poultry. Dent corn is usually grown for this purpose. Sweet corn is sold fresh on the cob, frozen, or canned. It is eaten primarily in North America and is almost unknown elsewhere. Flour corn is used mostly in Central and South America.

Corn is extensively used in breakfast foods, especially in a flake or puff form. Corn meal, a form of flour, is used in North America for making muffins, fritters, corn bread, mush, and many other baked foods. In Mexico and South America, corn meal is made into thin flat cakes called tortillas. Hominy is flint corn with the germ and outer hull removed. It is prepared by soaking in lye until it is white and fluffy. Grits, which are especially popular in the southern United States, are a coarsely ground form of hominy.

Corn is made into many food and industrial products. One product, corn-starch, is used in baking, in thickening soups, sauces, and desserts, and as a stiffening agent in certain fabrics.

Corn syrup, another food product, is a sweetener. It is rich in fructose, an easily digested sugar. It is used in infants' formulas, candy, jelly, soft drinks, ice cream, and processed foods.

Oil obtained from the germ of the corn kernel is used in cooking, as a shortening, and in salad dressings. It is used in industry in the manufacture of soap, paints, synthetic rubber, glycerin, and many kinds of chemicals.

Bourbon and blended American whiskeys are made from corn, and their manufacture is a major industry in the United States. Other products obtained indirectly from corn include lactic acid, explosives, synthetic resins, adhesives, paper sizing, and cosmetics.

Corn stalks and husks are used to make coarse paper and wallboard. In Mexico, attractive toys are made out of corn husks. Corncobs are used as fuel and to make pipes for smoking. Industrial chemists are continually discovering new uses for corn.