Words / A2

BAY/beɪ/

A bay is a wide curve of coast: a sandy bay, harbour bay, the hotel on the bay. Beach is the sand; a bay is the shape of the land and sea. Buy means purchase — same sound. By is a preposition. Do not write bay when you mean buy, or by.

Meaning

A wide curve of the coast where the land goes in.

Examples

• “The hotel looks over a quiet bay with fishing boats.”
• “We swam in the bay before the wind got up.”
• “The map marks a viewpoint above the bay.”

Good to know

a sandy bay / on the bay. Mix-up: buy, by — same sound as buy.

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