Is a bay the same thing as a gulf?

Question

I need to draw a bay for my homework.

Answer 1

a bay would be a body of water that is smaller and going into land. a Gulf is a larger body of water that was land around it.

Answer 2

The difference between a bay and a gulf is not clearly defined, but the term bay usually refers to a body of water somewhat smaller than a gulf.

Answer 3

Not really. They have similarities and differences.

They are both "arms" of seas or oceans that are partly enclosed by land. They differ in size; a gulf is larger than a bay.

Example:
Gulf - Gulf of Mexico
Bay - Bay of Bengal

The Gulf of Mexico is connected to the Atlantic Ocean, partly enclosed by USA, Mexico and Cuba.

The Bay of Bengal is connected to the Indian Ocean, partly enclosed by India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and Indonesia.

The Gulf of Mexico is larger than the Bay of Bengal.

Answer 4

** Diagrams: This site has a diagram of both bay and gulf.
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/geography/glossary/

I checked with 3 different sources: 2 geography glossaries and geography dictionary. I'll give the 2 glossaries first followed by the dictionary.

Bay:
- Any wide indentation of the land. Larger than a cove but smaller than a gulf.
- A body of sheltered water found in a crescent shaped coastal configuration of land.

- [noun] an indentation of a shoreline larger than a cove but smaller than a gulf


Gulf:
- A large inlet of water surrounded by land; usually surrounded on three sides by land. Larger than a bay.
- A gulf is a part of the ocean (or sea) that is partly surrounded by land (it is usually larger than a bay).

- [noun] an arm of a sea or ocean partly enclosed by land; larger than a bay
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