What’s the difference between beach glass and sea glass? It’s really pretty simple! Just to make it as clear as possible, I created a Venn diagram with sea glass.

First, there’s the giant set of all glass.

Inside that is all the glass that has somehow made it to a body of water and gotten tumbled by the waves until it’s smooth and soft. The glass eventually landed back on a beach along a  sea, ocean, lake, river, bay, or other body of water. This is all considered beach glass.

Finally, inside that is the glass that was found specifically on a beach on a sea or ocean. This is called sea glass.

Online, collectors and admirers love to share photos and stories about their beach glass and sea glass, and a great way to find those is to use the hashtag #seaglass, which is commonly used for both types of beach glass.

Hope this helps, and happy collecting!