Sell vs Sale (Meaning And Differences: All You Need To Know)

What is the difference between Sell vs Sale?

When to use sell or sale?

What are the essential elements you should know!

Keep reading as I have gathered exactly the information that you need!

Let’s understand what “sell” and “sale” mean and when to use them!!

Are you ready?

Let’s get started!

Sell vs Sale Overview

The terms sell or sale both relate to the notion of the exchange of goods but are confused in many situations.

The term “sale” refers to something that is being sold at a reduced price.

When something is sold at a discount or at a reduced price, you’ll see signs like:

• For sale 
• On sale 
• Weekend sale 
• Holiday sale 

The proper way of writing that something is to be sold at a reduced price is to say “for sale” whereas some common mistakes are:

• For sell
• On sell 

On the other hand, the term “sell” refers to a sale transaction or the legal process of goods changing hands.

When something is to be sold or exchanged for money, you will see statements like:

• This car will be easy to sell 
• If you offer the right price, she might sell it to you
• It’s easy to buy but it’s harder to sell

Now let’s look at the differences between sale and sell.

Difference Between Sale And Sell

What is the difference between sale and sell?

In general, sell is a term used to refer to the transfer of goods, commodities, or services for money whereas sale refers to the process of selling.

To better understand these words, let’s look at their formal definition, when they are used in a sentence, and their synonyms.

Definition of Sale

According to Dictionary.com, sale is defined as:

As you can see, the word sale refers to the “act” of selling or “process” of selling.

Vendors will use catchy phrases like “it’s for sale” or “it’s on sale”

Synonyms for sale are:

• Deal 
• Bargain
• Clearance 
• Discount
• Auction 

When you use the term sales in its plural form, you are referring to someone or some activity where a person is promoting something to be sold (“she works in the sales department”) or money received by a business following a sale (“the company earned more in sales this quarter”).

Definition of Sell

According to the MacMillan Dictionary, the term sell is defined as:

In other words, to sell something is the actual exchange of goods or services for money or some other benefit (“John sells home appliances”).

You will have a formal exchange of goods and services when you have a purchase agreement signed or an actual transaction between two or more parties.

The term sell can also be used to refer to the process of encouraging someone to purchase something (“getting a celebrity endorsement will get the books to sell quickly”).

Synonyms for sell are:

• Barter
• Exchange
• Get rid of 
• Trade 
• Close 
• Contract 
• Transaction 
• Disposal 

When To Use Sale or Sell

Here are some examples to give you a better idea of when to use the term sale or sell.

Sale Examples

• The sale of illegal drugs is not permitted by law
• The tickets are now on sale online 
• The company generated more sales this year 
• The company will use the proceeds of the sale to create a charity fund
• All items in the store are on sale today 
• The sales representative exceeded her quota

Sell Examples

• If you want to sell quickly, you need to reduce your price
• This company was not authorized to sell alcohol 
• You should get your car repaired before you sell it
• That store has all types of general goods to sell
• Are you sure they can sell that today

Common Mistakes

To help you clarify the confusion between the terms sale and sell, here are some common mistakes that are made.

• It’s “the sale of the” instead of “the sell of the”
• It’s “from the sale” instead of “from the sell”
• It’s “for the sale of” instead of “for the sell of”
• It’s “on the sale of” instead of “on the sell of”
• It’s “of the sale of” instead of “of the sell of”
• It’s “to sell out” instead of “to sale out”

Sale vs Sell Takeaways 

So there you have it folks!

Is it sell or sale?

Do you say for sell or for sale, to sale or to sell, or on sell or on sale?

In a nutshell, both terms sale and sell sound the same and are used in relation to the sale of goods or services (making it confusing for many).

So when should you use sell versus sell or sales vs sells?

Sale is a noun used to refer to something being sold (or exchanged) at a discount (or reduced price).

For example, “the car is on sale this week”.

Sell is a verb that is used to indicate that something is sold or exchanged or to refer to the sales process.

For example, “at the right price, she will sell” or “if you can sell this old thing, I’ll be shocked”.

In many cases, people will incorrectly confuse the words sell and sale in the following way:

• For sell instead of for sale
• To sale something instead of to sell something
• Make a sell instead of make a sale

In the end, sale refers to the concept of something is being sold at a discount and sell is the actual exchange of goods.

One way to remember the difference in sale and sell is to recall that “sale” has the letter “A” for “act of selling” whereas “sell” has the letter “E” for “exchange of goods”.

I hope I was able to help clarify the terms sale and sell so you can better understand how and when they are used.

Good luck!

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Now, let’s look at a summary of our findings.

Sale or Sell Overview

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