By crossword clue

The most likely answers for the crossword clue “By” are ASIDE, MAYBE or ALONG, with 5 letters. Below are 89 answers from 4 to 15 letters, best match first in each length, then what each top answer means and how to tell them apart.

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The best answers, explained

AWAY 4 letters · adverb

in reserve; not for immediate use “has a nest egg tucked away for a rainy day”

ASIDE 5 letters · adverb

in reserve; not for immediate use “started setting aside money to buy a car”

AROUND 6 letters · adverb

by a circular or circuitous route “He came all the way around the base”

HOWEVER 7 letters · adverb

by contrast; on the other hand “the first part was easy; the second, however, took hours”

POSSIBLY 8 letters · adverb

by chance “we may possibly run into them at the concert”

ALONGSIDE 9 letters · adverb

side by side

PRESUMABLY 10 letters · adverb

by reasonable assumption “presumably, he missed the train”

IMMEDIATELY 11 letters · adverb

near or close by “he passed immediately behind her”

ADDITIONALLY 12 letters · adverb

in addition, by way of addition; furthermore “he serves additionally as the CEO”

UNFORTUNATELY 13 letters · adverb

by bad luck “unfortunately it rained all day”

ELECTRONICALLY 14 letters · adverb

by electronic means “the door opens electronically”

TECHNOLOGICALLY 15 letters · adverb

by means of technology “technologically impossible”

Telling them apart

With 4 squares, AWAY, PAST, JUST, WIDE and ALAS all fit. The second letter tells them all apart: W → AWAY · A → PAST · U → JUST · I → WIDE · L → ALAS. Fill in that crossing answer first.

With 5 squares, ASIDE, MAYBE, ALONG, HEAVY, TRULY and ABACK all fit. The second letter tells them all apart: S → ASIDE · A → MAYBE · L → ALONG · E → HEAVY · R → TRULY · B → ABACK. Fill in that crossing answer first.

With 6 squares, AROUND, BARELY, ABOARD, HOURLY, ORALLY and SINGLY all fit. The fourth letter tells them all apart: U → AROUND · E → BARELY · A → ABOARD · R → HOURLY · L → ORALLY · G → SINGLY. Fill in that crossing answer first.

Other forms of this clue

Clues often use another form of the word, and the answer then takes the same form: “byes” wants an answer that ends the same way.

What “by” means

• adverb: so as to pass a given point
• adverb: in reserve; not for immediate use (“put something by for her old age”)

A clue usually points at one of these senses, so the right answer is the one that matches the sense the puzzle means: check it against the crossing words.

About these answers

We match the clue against our own thesaurus and dictionary (Open English WordNet): words that mean the same as BY, and words whose definition is BY. We don't copy answers from newspaper puzzles, so a clue that leans on trivia or wordplay may need the crossing letters instead.