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“May be” or “Maybe”

may be / maybe 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.

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Definitions

What each term means

Same sound, different spellings and meanings, shown with a pronunciation guide for each term.

may be

No dictionary entry for this spelling — see the usage examples below for how it shows up in writing.

maybe m·EY·b·iy

No dictionary entry for this spelling — see the usage examples below for how it shows up in writing.

Usage

Examples in context

Real sentences for each spelling. Hover an example to copy it.

“may be”

No example sentences found for this spelling.

“maybe”

  • "Maybe Not Tonight" (Keith Stegall, Dan…
  • …Paige noted in his autobiography, Maybe I'll Pitch Forever, "If schools…
  • …his own date of birth, maybe so he could stake his…
  • …money to be scared, then maybe they should play scary music.
  • …Może Nie - Kobi RMX" (Maybe Yes, Maybe not 0 Kobi
  • Maybe Not Tonight
  • Uncanny, maybe.
  • Maybe Not Tonight is the sixth…
  • …" a character-is-destiny story ... Maybe more than film noir, it's…
  • Maybe Not Tonight was also Kershaw's…

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

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