strait

Compared meaning: a narrow strip of water between two seas (noun).

比较义项：海峡，两片海域之间的狭窄水道（名词）。

• sound

  Sound usually names a long coastal channel or inlet, often part of a place name, and does not have to connect two seas the way a strait does.

  sound 通常指沿海的一条长条状水道或海湾，常作为地名的一部分，并不一定像 strait 那样连接两个海。

  Fishing boats shelter in the calm sound behind the barrier islands.

  渔船在屏障岛屿后面那片平静的海峡（水道）里躲避风浪。

• strait 本词

  Strait is the standard, more common word for a narrow passage of water joining two seas or oceans, and it is the term used in most place names like the Strait of Gibraltar.

  strait 是表示连接两个海或大洋的狭窄水道的标准、更常用的说法，也是大多数地名（如直布罗陀海峡）所使用的词。

  Ships must sail carefully through the narrow strait between the islands.

  船只必须小心地驶过两岛之间狭窄的海峡。

Sound and strait both can mean a narrow channel of water. Sound usually names a long coastal channel and need not join two seas. Strait is the more common word for a passage joining two seas. Not compared: sound meaning 'noise'.

这两个词在“狭窄水道”这个意思上接近，但 strait 是更通用、更常见的说法，sound 则常指沿海的长条状水道，且不一定连接两个海。这里不比较 sound 的“声音”义，也不比较 strait 的“困境”义（如习语 dire straits）。