Stock vs. Bond — What's the Difference?

Ownership share in a corporation.

Pays periodic interest.

Can be bought/sold on stock exchanges.

Principal is repaid at maturity.

Represents equity capital.

A debt instrument where the issuer owes the holders a debt.

Subject to market risks.

Considered a fixed-income security.

Potential for high returns.

Lower risk than stocks.

Stock (also capital stock) is all of the shares into which ownership of a corporation is divided. In American English, the shares are collectively known as "stock".

Something, such as a fetter, cord, or band, that binds, ties, or fastens things together.

A supply accumulated for future use; a store.

Often bonds Confinement in prison; captivity.

The total merchandise kept on hand by a merchant, commercial establishment, warehouse, or manufacturer.

A uniting force or relationship; a link

All the animals kept or raised on a farm; livestock.

A binding agreement; a covenant.

All the aquatic animals kept or raised in an aquaculture operation.

A duty, promise, or other obligation by which one is bound.

A population of wild animals, especially of a species that is also farmed

A substance or agent that causes two or more objects or parts to cohere.

A kind of financial security granting rights of ownership in a corporation, such as a claim to a portion of the assets and earnings of the corporation and the right to vote for the board of directors. Stock is issued and traded in units called shares.

The union or cohesion brought about by such a substance or agent.

The stock issued by a particular company

A chemical bond.

Chiefly British The money invested in a corporation, including debt and equity.

A systematically overlapping or alternating arrangement of bricks or stones in a wall, designed to increase strength and stability.

Chiefly British A bond, especially a government bond.

A written obligation requiring the payment of a sum at a certain time.

The trunk or main stem of a tree or another plant.

A debt security obligating a government or corporation to pay a specified amount on a future date, especially a marketable security that makes semiannual interest payments.

A plant or stem onto which a graft is made.

A guarantee issued by a surety agency on behalf of a client, requiring the surety to pay a sum of money to a third party in the event the client fails to fulfill certain obligations; a surety bond.

A plant or tree from which cuttings and slips are taken.

A sum pledged as a guarantee.

The original progenitor of a family line.

A sum paid as a guarantee of a person's appearance at court for trial; bail

The descendants of a common ancestor; a family line, especially of a specified character

The condition of being held under the guarantee of a customs bond

Ancestry or lineage; antecedents.

An insurance contract that indemnifies an employer for loss resulting from a fraudulent or dishonest act by an employee; a fidelity bond.

The type from which a group of animals or plants has descended.

Bond paper.

A race, family, or other related group of animals or plants.

To join securely, as with glue or cement.

An ethnic group or other major division of the human race.

To join (two or more individuals) in a relationship, as by shared belief or experience

A group of related languages.

To finance by issuing bonds

A group of related families of languages.

To raise by issuing bonds

The raw material out of which something is made.

To gain the release of (someone who has been arrested) by providing a bail bond

Paper used for printing.

To issue a surety bond or a fidelity bond for.

The broth in which meat, fish, bones, or vegetables are simmered for a relatively long period, used as a base in preparing soup, gravy, or sauces.

To lay (bricks or stones) in an overlapping or alternating pattern.

A main upright part, especially a supporting structure or block.

To cohere with a bond.

Stocks(Nautical) The timber frame that supports a ship during construction.

To form a close personal relationship.

Often stocks A frame in which a horse or other animal is held for shoeing or for veterinary treatment.

To secure release from prison by providing a bail bond

Stocks A device consisting of a heavy timber frame with holes for confining the ankles and sometimes the wrists, formerly used for punishment.

(legal) Evidence of a long-term debt, by which the bond issuer (the borrower) is obliged to pay interest when due, and repay the principal at maturity, as specified on the face of the bond certificate. The rights of the holder are specified in the bond indenture, which contains the legal terms and conditions under which the bond was issued. Bonds are available in two forms: registered bonds, and bearer bonds.

(Nautical) A crosspiece at the end of the shank of an anchor.

(finance) A documentary obligation to pay a sum or to perform a contract; a debenture.

The wooden block from which a bell is suspended.

A partial payment made to show a provider that the customer is sincere about buying a product or a service. If the product or service is not purchased the customer then forfeits the bond.

The rear wooden, metal, or plastic handle or support of a rifle, pistol, or automatic weapon, to which the barrel and mechanism are attached.

A physical connection which binds, a band.

A handle, such as that of a whip, a fishing rod, or various carpentry tools.

An emotional link, connection or union; that which holds two or more people together, as in a friendship; a tie.

The frame of a plow, to which the share, handles, coulter, and other parts are fastened.

Moral or political duty or obligation.

A theatrical stock company.

(chemistry) A link or force between neighbouring atoms in a molecule.

The repertoire of such a company.

A binding agreement, a covenant.

A theater or theatrical activity, especially outside of a main theatrical center

A bail bond.

(Botany) Any of several Eurasian and Mediterranean plants of the genus Matthiola in the mustard family, especially M. incana, widely cultivated for its clusters of showy, fragrant, variously colored flowers.

Any constraining or cementing force or material.

(Games) The portion of a pack of cards or of a group of dominoes that is not dealt out but is drawn from during a game.

(construction) In building, a specific pattern of bricklaying, based on overlapping rows or layers to give strength.

(Geology) A body of intrusive igneous rock of which less than 100 square kilometers (40 square miles) is exposed.

(Scotland) A mortgage.

(Zoology) A compound organism, such as a colony of zooids.

(railways) A heavy copper wire or rod connecting adjacent rails of an electric railway track when used as a part of the electric circuit.

Personal reputation or status

A peasant; churl.

Confidence or credence

A vassal; serf; one held in bondage to a superior.

A long white neckcloth worn as part of a formal riding habit.

(transitive) To connect, secure or tie with a bond; to bind.

A broad scarf worn around the neck, especially by certain clerics.

(transitive) To cause to adhere (one material with another).

Rolling stock.

To form a chemical compound with.

To supply (a shop) with merchandise.

(transitive) To guarantee or secure a financial risk.

To supply (a farm) with livestock.

To form a friendship or emotional connection.

To fill (a stream, for example) with fish.

(transitive) To put in a bonded warehouse; to secure (goods) until the associated duties are paid.

To keep for future sale or use.

To lay bricks in a specific pattern.

To provide (a rifle, for example) with a stock.

To make a reliable electrical connection between two conductors (or any pieces of metal that may potentially become conductors).

(Obsolete) To put (someone) in the stocks as a punishment.

To bail out by means of a bail bond.

To gather and lay in a supply of something

Subject to the tenure called bondage.

To put forth or sprout new shoots. Used of a plant.

In a state of servitude or slavedom; not free.

Kept regularly in stock

Servile; slavish; pertaining to or befitting a slave.

Repeated regularly without any thought or originality; routine

That which binds, ties, fastens, or confines, or by which anything is fastened or bound, as a cord, chain, etc.; a band; a ligament; a shackle or a manacle.

Employed in dealing with or caring for stock or merchandise

The state of being bound; imprisonment; captivity, restraint.

Of or relating to the raising of livestock

A binding force or influence; a cause of union; a uniting tie; as, the bonds of fellowship.

Used for breeding

Moral or political duty or obligation.

Of or relating to a stock company or its repertoire.

A writing under seal, by which a person binds himself, his heirs, executors, and administrators, to pay a certain sum on or before a future day appointed. This is a single bond. But usually a condition is added, that, if the obligor shall do a certain act, appear at a certain place, conform to certain rules, faithfully perform certain duties, or pay a certain sum of money, on or before a time specified, the obligation shall be void; otherwise it shall remain in full force. If the condition is not performed, the bond becomes forfeited, and the obligor and his heirs are liable to the payment of the whole sum.

Of or being a conventional character or situation that recurs in many literary or cinematic works.

A financial instrument (of the nature of the ordinary legal bond) made by a government or a corporation for purpose of borrowing money; a written promise to pay a specific sum of money on or before a specified day, given in return for a sum of money; as, a government, city, or railway bond.

A store or supply.

The state of goods placed in a bonded warehouse till the duties are paid; as, merchandise in bond.

(operations) A store of goods ready for sale; inventory.

The union or tie of the several stones or bricks forming a wall. The bricks may be arranged for this purpose in several different ways, as in English bond or block bond (Fig. 1), where one course consists of bricks with their ends toward the face of the wall, called headers, and the next course of bricks with their lengths parallel to the face of the wall, called stretchers; Flemish bond (Fig.2), where each course consists of headers and stretchers alternately, so laid as always to break joints; Cross bond, which differs from the English by the change of the second stretcher line so that its joints come in the middle of the first, and the same position of stretchers comes back every fifth line; Combined cross and English bond, where the inner part of the wall is laid in the one method, the outer in the other.

A supply of anything ready for use.

A unit of chemical attraction between atoms; as, oxygen has two bonds of affinity. Also called chemical bond. It is often represented in graphic formulæ by a short line or dash. See Diagram of Benzene nucleus, and Valence. Several types of bond are distinguished by chemists, as double bond, triple bond, covalent bond, hydrogen bond.

Railroad rolling stock.

A heavy copper wire or rod connecting adjacent rails of an electric railway track when used as a part of the electric circuit.

A stack of undealt cards made available to the players.

League; association; confederacy.

Farm or ranch animals; livestock.

A vassal or serf; a slave.

The population of a given type of animal (especially fish) available to be captured from the wild for economic use.

To place under the conditions of a bond; to mortgage; to secure the payment of the duties on (goods or merchandise) by giving a bond.

(finance) The capital raised by a company through the issue of shares. The total of shares held by an individual shareholder.

To dispose in building, as the materials of a wall, so as to secure solidity.

The price or value of the stock of a company on the stock market.

In a state of servitude or slavery; captive.

A share in a company.

An electrical force linking atoms

(figurative) The measure of how highly a person or institution is valued.

A certificate of debt (usually interest-bearing or discounted) that is issued by a government or corporation in order to raise money; the issuer is required to pay a fixed sum annually until maturity and then a fixed sum to repay the principal

Any of several types of security that are similar to a stock, or marketed like one.

A connection based on kinship or marriage or common interest;

The raw material from which things are made; feedstock.

(criminal law) money that must be forfeited by the bondsman if an accused person fails to appear in court for trial;

Broth made from meat (originally bones) or vegetables, used as a basis for stew or soup.

A restraint that confines or restricts freedom (especially something used to tie down or restrain a prisoner)

The type of paper used in printing.

A connection that fastens things together

Ellipsis of film stock

A superior quality of strong durable white writing paper; originally made for printing documents

Plain soap before it is coloured and perfumed.

United States civil rights leader who was elected to the legislature in Georgia but was barred from taking his seat because he opposed the Vietnam War (born 1940)

Stock theater, summer stock theater.

British secret operative 007 in novels by Ian Fleming

The trunk and woody main stems of a tree. The base from which something grows or branches.

The property of sticking together (as of glue and wood) or the joining of surfaces of different composition

(horticulture) The plant upon which the scion is grafted.

Stick to firmly;

(by extension) Lineage, family, ancestry.

Create social or emotional ties;

Any of the several species of cruciferous flowers in the genus Matthiola.

Issue bonds on

A handle or stem to which the working part of an implement or weapon is attached.

Held in slavery;

The handle of a whip, fishing rod, etc.

Part of a machine that supports items or holds them in place.

The headstock of a lathe, drill, etc.

The tailstock of a lathe.

A bar, stick or rod.

A ski pole.

(nautical) A bar going through an anchor, perpendicular to the flukes.

(nautical) The axle attached to the rudder, which transfers the movement of the helm to the rudder.

(geology) A pipe (vertical cylinder of ore)

A type of (now formal or official) neckwear.

A necktie or cravat, particularly a wide necktie popular in the eighteenth century, often seen today as a part of formal wear for horse riding competitions.

A piece of black cloth worn under a clerical collar.

A bed for infants; a crib, cot, or cradle

(folklore) A piece of wood magically made to be just like a real baby and substituted for it by magical beings.

(obsolete) A cover for the legs; a stocking.

A block of wood; something fixed and solid; a pillar; a firm support; a post.

A person who is as dull and lifeless as a stock or post; one who has little sense.

The longest part of a split tally stick formerly struck in the exchequer, which was delivered to the person who had lent the king money on account, as the evidence of indebtedness.

The frame or timbers on which a ship rests during construction.

Red and grey bricks, used for the exterior of walls and the front of buildings.

(biology) In tectology, an aggregate or colony of individuals, such as trees, chains of salpae, etc.

The beater of a fulling mill.

A thrust with a rapier; a stoccado.

To have on hand for sale.

To provide with material requisites; to store; to fill; to supply.

To allow (cows) to retain milk for twenty-four hours or more prior to sale.

To put in the stocks as punishment.

(nautical) To fit (an anchor) with a stock, or to fasten the stock firmly in place.

To arrange cards in a certain manner for cheating purposes; to stack the deck.

Of a type normally available for purchase/in stock.

Having the same configuration as cars sold to the non-racing public, or having been modified from such a car.

Straightforward, ordinary, just another, very basic.

The stem, or main body, of a tree or plant; the fixed, strong, firm part; the trunk.

The stem or branch in which a graft is inserted.

A block of wood; something fixed and solid; a pillar; a firm support; a post.

Hence, a person who is as dull and lifeless as a stock or post; one who has little sense.

The principal supporting part; the part in which others are inserted, or to which they are attached.

The original progenitor; also, the race or line of a family; the progenitor of a family and his direct descendants; lineage; family.

The handle or contrivance by which bits are held in boring; a bitstock; a brace.

Money or capital which an individual or a firm employs in business; fund; in the United States, the capital of a bank or other company, in the form of transferable shares, each of a certain amount; money funded in government securities, called also the public funds; in the plural, property consisting of shares in joint-stock companies, or in the obligations of a government for its funded debt; - so in the United States, but in England the latter only are called stocks, and the former shares.

The block of wood or metal frame which constitutes the body of a plane, and in which the plane iron is fitted; a plane stock.

Same as Stock account, below.

The wooden or iron crosspiece to which the shank of an anchor is attached. See Illust. of Anchor.

Supply provided; store; accumulation; especially, a merchant's or manufacturer's store of goods; as, to lay in a stock of provisions.

The support of the block in which an anvil is fixed, or of the anvil itself.

Domestic animals or beasts collectively, used or raised on a farm; as, a stock of cattle or of sheep, etc.; - called also live stock.

A handle or wrench forming a holder for the dies for cutting screws; a diestock.

That portion of a pack of cards not distributed to the players at the beginning of certain games, as gleek, etc., but which might be drawn from afterward as occasion required; a bank.

The part of a tally formerly struck in the exchequer, which was delivered to the person who had lent the king money on account, as the evidence of indebtedness. See Counterfoil.

A thrust with a rapier; a stoccado.

A covering for the leg, or leg and foot; as, upper stocks (breeches); nether stocks (stockings).

A kind of stiff, wide band or cravat for the neck; as, a silk stock.

A frame of timber, with holes in which the feet, or the feet and hands, of criminals were formerly confined by way of punishment.

The frame or timbers on which a ship rests while building.

Red and gray bricks, used for the exterior of walls and the front of buildings.

Any cruciferous plant of the genus Matthiola; as, common stock (Matthiola incana) (see Gilly-flower); ten-weeks stock (M. annua).

An irregular metalliferous mass filling a large cavity in a rock formation, as a stock of lead ore deposited in limestone.

A race or variety in a species.

In tectology, an aggregate or colony of persons (see Person), as trees, chains of salpæ, etc.

The beater of a fulling mill.

A liquid or jelly containing the juices and soluble parts of meat, and certain vegetables, etc., extracted by cooking; - used in making soup, gravy, etc.

Raw material; that out of which something is manufactured; as, paper stock.

A plain soap which is made into toilet soap by adding perfumery, coloring matter, etc.

To lay up; to put aside for future use; to store, as merchandise, and the like.

To provide with material requisites; to store; to fill; to supply; as, to stock a warehouse, that is, to fill it with goods; to stock a farm, that is, to supply it with cattle and tools; to stock land, that is, to occupy it with a permanent growth, especially of grass.

To suffer to retain milk for twenty-four hours or more previous to sale, as cows.

To put in the stocks.

Used or employed for constant service or application, as if constituting a portion of a stock or supply; standard; permanent; standing; as, a stock actor; a stock play; a stock phrase; a stock response; a stock sermon.

The capital raised by a corporation through the issue of shares entitling holders to an ownership interest (equity);

Liquid in which meat and vegetables are simmered; used as a basis for e.g. soups or sauces;

The merchandise that a shop has on hand;

A supply of something available for future use;

Not used technically; any animals kept for use or profit

The descendants of one individual;

The reputation and popularity a person has;

A special variety of domesticated animals within a species;

Lumber used in the construction of something;

A certificate documenting the shareholder's ownership in the corporation;

Any of various ornamental flowering plants of the genus Malcolmia

A plant or stem onto which a graft is made; especially a plant grown specifically to provide the root part of grafted plants

Any of several Old World plants cultivated for their brightly colored flowers

The handle end of some implements or tools;

Persistent thickened stem of a herbaceous perennial plant

An ornamental white cravat

Have on hand;

Equip with a stock;

Supply with fish;

Supply with livestock;

Stock up on to keep for future use or sale;

Provide or furnish with a stock of something;

Put forth and grow sprouts or shoots;

Repeated too often; overfamiliar through overuse;

Routine;

Regularly and widely used or sold;

Bonds generate returns through regular interest payments.

A bond is a loan made by an investor to a borrower, typically corporate or governmental.

Stocks are generally riskier than bonds due to greater volatility.

Yes, if the issuer defaults or if sold before maturity at a lower price.

Bond maturity is the date when the bond’s principal amount must be repaid.

Stock prices are influenced by company performance, market conditions, and investor sentiment.

Common and preferred stocks are the primary types.

A stock is a type of investment that represents ownership in a company.

Stocks generate returns through dividends and by increasing in value.

Some bonds can be redeemed before maturity, but terms vary.

Bond prices are influenced by changes in interest rates, credit quality of the issuer, and market trends.

The choice depends on individual risk tolerance, investment goals, and market conditions.

Dividends are a share of profits paid to shareholders by some stocks.

Government, municipal, and corporate bonds are common types.

Yes, if the stock’s price drops below the purchase price, losses can occur.