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“Sails” or “Sales”

sails / sales 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.

sails s·EY·l·z

  • nouna large piece of fabric (usually canvas fabric) by means of which wind is used to propel a sailing vessel.
  • nounany structure that resembles a sail.
  • verbtraverse or travel on (a body of water).
  • verbtravel on water propelled by wind.

sales s·EY·l·z

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.

“sails”

  • …with enough force that it sails dozens of feet over the
  • …possible, the frigate furled her sails until 1130.
  • …captain ordered to keep the sails safe by all means; however,…
  • …of the crew members sewn sails.
  • …the American ships spotted three sails to the eastward; two tacking…
  • Heavier sailors require larger sails, and smaller sails are more…
  • …the Neva went under all sails to the Cape of Good…
  • "Red Sails in the Sunset" (Hugh Williams,…
  • …to leave the bay under sails, while Nadezhda squeezed to the…
  • …exertion," the wrecked masts and sails could not be cleared away.

“sales”

  • …due to unlawful foreign arms sales by the U.S. State Department…
  • Sales and certifications
  • Total reported sales: 9,502
  • It generated revenue from sales of fraudulent certificates and books.
  • …interrelation, including engineering, design, marketing, sales, distribution, credit, finance, human resources…
  • Certifications and sales
  • …1992 after reports of arms sales to Iraq in the 1980s…
  • …manufacturing which primarily uses a sales plan and forecast to determine…
  • …developers, this resulted in low sales in the first year of…
  • …withdrew its request for stock sales, explaining that "[the company] has…

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

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