Does a stoichiometric coefficient represent molecules or moles of a substance? I understand that the one mole of atoms is equal to $6.02\times10^{23}$ atoms. However, when I used various resources to learn about stoichiometry, they showed me a balanced equation:

$$\ce{2H2O-&gt;2H2 + O2}$$

and said "2 moles of water" decomposed to form "2 moles of molecular hydrogen" and "1 mole of molecular oxygen". It is my understanding that there are only 2 molecules of water, not $2 \times 6.02 \times 10^{23}$ molecules of water and so on with the other parts of the equation as well. Could someone please clear up my confusion?
Balanced equations represent ratios of reacting chemical species, not absolute quantities. What we mean when we say $$\ce{2H2 +O2-&gt;2H2O}$$ is not literally that two molecules of hydrogen react with one of oxygen, but rather that two units of hydrogen react. These units could be moles or molecules or something else entirely.