Near by or nearby?
near by is an adverb meaning “Alternative form of nearby”; nearby is an adverb meaning “Next to, close to”. near by is written as two words and nearby as one word; they are used differently.
What is the difference between near by and nearby?
| near by | nearby | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | adverb, adjective | adjective, adverb, noun |
| Meaning | Alternative form of nearby | Adjacent, near, close by Next to, close to A futures contract, of a particular group, whose settlement date is the earliest |
| Example | none recorded | He stopped at a nearby store for some groceries |
| Pronunciation | not recorded | /ˌnɪə(ɹ)ˈbaɪ/ |
| In writing | not counted (the list counts single words) | 35 times per million words |
Sources: near by and nearby in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of near by and nearby
near by
- 1
Alternative form of nearby
- 2
Alternative form of nearby
nearby
- 1
Adjacent, near, close by
He stopped at a nearby store for some groceries
- 2
Next to, close to
I'm glad my friends live nearby where I can visit them
- 3
A futures contract, of a particular group, whose settlement date is the earliest
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, near by or nearby?
near by is a phrase, which the list of single words does not count; nearby 35 times per million words.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search near by vs nearby?
“near by vs nearby” is searched about 260 times a month on Google and 10 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“nearby vs near by”, “near by or nearby”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.