A beach is a strip or expanse of incoherent wave-worn sand, which is often pebbly or full of boulders; we speak of the beach of a lake or ocean; a beach is sometimes found in the bend of a river.

J. C. Fernald, English Synonyms and Antonyms (1914)

Example sentences

coast Ivory Coast is the world's biggest cocoa producer.
shore Another ten minutes' walk brought us to the shore.
seashore Algiers has a beautiful promenade on the seashore.
sands It is a lot of fun picking various shells on the sands.

Popularity over time

Word	1850 → 2019	Trend
beach		rising
coast		falling
shore		steady
seashore		falling
sands		falling

Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.

By length

4 letters: bank¹, sand¹
5 letters: coast¹, shore¹, sands¹
6 letters: margin², strand¹
7 letters: shingle²
8 letters: seaboard², seashore²
9 letters: backshore

The small number after each word is its number of syllables (margin² = 2 syllables).

In other languages

Français: plage
Italiano: spiaggia
Español: playa
Deutsch: Strand
Català: platja