bail, bale

Bail or bail means the sum of money left as surety for appearance in court--
The judge set bail at $50,000.
His parents offered the money to pay his bail.

Bail also means to remove water from a boat or ship--
Everyone get a bucket and help bail out the boat, or we'll sink!
Figuratively, to bail someone out means to get someone out of trouble-
I had a lot of trouble with the report, but a coworker bailed me out.
Don't count on us to bail you out if you get into trouble.

Bale or bale ( rhymes with bail ) means to compress into a bundle--
Get moving--we have to bale all of that hay.
They used a machine to bale the hay.
Bale may refer to the bundle--
They sat the scarecrow on a bale of hay.
The bale of newspapers was too heavy to lift.

Now that you know that, you can say--
"They tried to bail out the boat by using a bale of cotton to soak up the water. Then they threw the bale overboard."

Note--"bail" also means the metal or wire handle of a bucket or container--
She carried the bucket by the bail, and swung it back and forth.
Note # 2--"bale" also means sorrow or woe--
He heard a baleful cry
Note # 3--a "bailiff" is an officer of a law court--
The bailiff instructed everyone to rise.
Not to be confused with "bail if" ( two words ), meaning the sum of money deposited with a court, conditionally ( if ) --
We can post bail if our parents will help us.