“Buy” or “By” or “Bye”

Overview

buy / by / bye are similar-sounding terms with different meanings (referred to as homophones). To better understand the differences, see below for definitions, pronunciation guides, and example sentences using each term. 👇

Definitions

buy: (verb) obtain by purchase; acquire by means of a financial transaction. (verb) be worth or be capable of buying. (verb) acquire by trade or sacrifice or exchange. (verb) accept as true.

by: (adverb) so as to pass a given point.

bye: (noun) you advance to the next round in a tournament without playing an opponent.

Pronunciation

buy: b·AY

by: b·AY

bye: b·AY

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Examples in Context

Examples of “buy”

…United States, with 4.6 million buys and over $410 million in…
…were officers in Cleveland banks—to buy shares in Standard Oil at…
…for persuading target customers to buy products.
…sponsors, he was able to buy the "Wega", twice as large…
He would buy base wine from local French…
…was also the first to buy trucks in Hungary for the…
Whether she meant to buy them, as she claimed, and…
…to allow needy customers to buy from waiting businesses.
If you buy and sell a stock before…
…company into which students could buy for ten cents per share;…

Examples of “by”

…on-field ceremony, which was emceed by Hall of Fame broadcaster Vin…
…1842, Congress encouraged settlement here by establishing the Armed Occupation Act.
…Rideau Rouge Records with distribution by Harmonia Mundi.
…in the Kivus were led by Generals Padiri and Dunia.
…1952. during a congress made by four workers centrals.
The forest was acquired by the federal government from private…
…Baseball All-Century Team was chosen by popular vote of fans.
Henderson was succeeded by Craig Lehman as the minority
…on a team officially endorsed by Major League Baseball, but fans…
Category:Taxonomy articles created by Polbot

Examples of “bye”

The song "Break Up (Bye Bye)", which was featured in…
If more than one leg bye is taken the number scored…
…top four seeds received a bye into the second round.
…conference winners earning a first-round bye.
…seed Duke received a first-round bye into the semifinals.
Bye: Tottenham Hotspur , Motor Zwickau…
…keeper and the batsmen run byes or the ball runs to…
…conventional notation for a single bye is a triangle with a…
…of the women had a bye through to the semi finals.
If the batsmen run byes on a wide ball or…

(Examples are Wikipedia snippets under the CC ShareAlike 3.0 license. Definitions drawn from WordNet.)

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