English homophones

bi/buy/by/bye

"bi" is an adjective; "buy" is a verb - grammar picks the spelling, not sound. Size rank #5 of 1,007 English groups.

Data vintage 2026-09-03

Grammar picks the spelling

Same sound, different grammar: "bi" arrives as an adjective, while "buy" is a verb. Once the sentence role is fixed, only one spelling fits.

Spelling pairs in this cluster

No shared spelling stem: "bi" is 2 letters, "buy" is 3; only the sound ties them.
Single-letter fork: "bi" keeps i, "by" writes y at letter 2.
No shared spelling stem: "bi" is 2 letters, "bye" is 3; only the sound ties them.
No shared spelling stem: "buy" is 3 letters, "by" is 2; only the sound ties them.
No shared spelling stem: "buy" is 3 letters, "bye" is 3; only the sound ties them.
Shared stem "by" then splits - "by" (2 letters) vs "bye" (3).

Orthographic DNA of this cluster

Shared letters across bi, buy, by, bye: b. Private letters are the ones only one spelling owns: the eye's fastest tell once sound is out of the picture.

bi
2 letters · 1 vowels · shape CV
Inventory bi · private i
buy
3 letters · 2 vowels · shape CVV
Inventory buy · private uy
by
2 letters · 1 vowels · shape CV
Inventory by · private y
bye
3 letters · 2 vowels · shape CVV
Inventory bey · private ey

Pick the spelling from the meaning

Write "bi" when you mean: Clipping of bisexual.
Write "buy" when you mean: To obtain (something) in exchange for money or goods.
Write "by" when you mean: Near or next to.
Write "bye" when you mean: The position of a person or team in a tournament or competition who draws no opponent in a particular round so advances to the next round…

Each spelling

adjective · /baɪ/ · #6,656 frequency

Clipping of bisexual.

buy

verb · /baɪ/ · #476 frequency

To obtain (something) in exchange for money or goods.

preposition · /baɪ/ · #24 frequency

Near or next to.

bye

noun · /baɪ/ · #3,674 frequency

The position of a person or team in a tournament or competition who draws no opponent in a particular round so advances to the next round unopposed, or is awarded points for a win in a league table; also the phantom opponent of such a person or team.

Nearby English homophone groups

What to do next

You've reviewed the 4-spelling cluster (bi, buy, by, bye). Here's where to go from here.

"by" is the most frequent headword in this 4-spelling cluster (rank #24 in English). Full entry
Among English homophone groups, a cluster of 4 spellings ranks #5 by size (1,007 groups in this vintage). Corpus statistics
Explore a nearby 4-spelling cluster: bow · bo · beau · beaux. Nearby cluster
Grammar often disambiguates this cluster, match the meaning to the part of speech before picking a spelling. Pick by meaning

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.