Meanings · Examples · Separable or not

Common English Phrasal Verbs

Q: What are the most common phrasal verbs?

Corpus studies such as Gardner and Davies (2007) find go on, carry out, set up, pick up, go back, come back, go out, point out and find out among the most frequent in English.

131 phrasal verbs that English speakers use every day, from get up and look for to come up with and put up with. Each has a short meaning, an example sentence and its type, and you can test yourself by choosing the missing particle.

131 phrasal verbs
Example sentences
Particle test
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Test yourself: choose the particle

Ten example sentences with the particle missing ("Please turn ___ the light"). Choose up, off, out… using the meaning as a hint.

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131 common phrasal verbs

GroupParticle

Phrasal verb	Meaning	Example	Type
calm down	become less angry or nervous	Calm down and tell me what happened.	separable
check in	register at a hotel or airport	We checked in at the hotel at three.	no object
come back	return	He came back from Spain last week.	no object
come in	enter	The door is open, so just come in.	no object
come on	used to encourage someone	Come on, we're going to be late!	no object
fill in	complete a form	Please fill in this form and sign it.	separable
find out	discover information	I need to find out what time the train leaves.	separable
get back	return	What time did you get back last night?	no object
get in	enter a car	Get in the car; it's starting to rain.	inseparable
get off	leave a bus, train or plane	Get off the bus at the second stop.	inseparable
get on	enter a bus, train or plane	We got on the train at the last minute.	inseparable
get out of	leave a car or place	She got out of the taxi and paid the driver.	inseparable
get up	get out of bed	I usually get up at seven.	no object
give back	return something	Can you give me back my book tomorrow?	separable
give up	stop doing or trying	He gave up smoking two years ago.	separable
go back	return to a place	I want to go back to Rome one day.	no object
go on	continue; happen	What's going on? Why is everyone shouting?	no object
go out	leave home to do something social	We went out for dinner on Friday.	no object
grow up	become an adult	She grew up in a small village by the sea.	no object
hurry up	do something more quickly	Hurry up, or we'll miss the bus!	no object
log in	enter a computer system	Log in with your email and password.	no object
log out	leave a computer system	Always log out on a shared computer.	no object
look after	take care of	My grandmother looks after the children on Mondays.	inseparable
look at	direct your eyes towards	Look at this photo from our holiday.	inseparable
look for	try to find	I'm looking for my keys. Have you seen them?	inseparable
look forward to	feel happy about something that will happen	I'm looking forward to seeing you next week.	inseparable
look out	be careful	Look out! There's a car coming.	no object
look up	search for information	Look the word up in a dictionary.	separable
pick up	collect someone or something	I'll pick you up from the station at six.	separable
put away	put something in its usual place	Put your toys away before dinner.	separable
put on	dress yourself in	Put your coat on; it's cold outside.	separable
sit down	take a seat	Please sit down and make yourself comfortable.	no object
slow down	become or make slower	Slow down! You're driving too fast.	separable
stand up	rise to your feet	Everyone stood up when the teacher came in.	no object
take care of	look after; deal with	Who will take care of your cat while you're away?	inseparable
take off	remove clothing	Please take off your shoes at the door.	separable
throw away	put in the rubbish	Don't throw away those boxes; we can use them.	separable
try on	put on clothes to see if they fit	Can I try these jeans on?	separable
turn down	decrease the volume or heat	Could you turn the radio down a bit?	separable
turn off	stop a machine or light	Turn the TV off before you go to bed.	separable
turn on	start a machine or light	Can you turn on the light? It's dark in here.	separable
turn up	increase the volume or heat	Turn the music up; I love this song.	separable
wake up	stop sleeping	She woke up when the phone rang.	no object
write down	write on paper to remember	Write down my number before you forget it.	separable
break down	stop working (a machine)	Our car broke down on the motorway.	no object
break up	end a relationship	They broke up after five years together.	no object
bring up	raise a child	She was brought up by her aunt.	separable
bring up	mention a subject	Don't bring up politics at dinner.	separable
call back	return a phone call	I'm busy now; can I call you back later?	separable
call off	cancel	They called off the match because of the rain.	separable
carry on	continue	Carry on with your work; I'll be back soon.	no object
catch up	reach the same level as others	I missed a week of school and need to catch up.	no object
check out	leave a hotel after paying	You have to check out before eleven.	no object
cheer up	become or make happier	Cheer up! It's not the end of the world.	separable
come across	find by chance	I came across an old letter in the attic.	inseparable
come up with	think of an idea or plan	She came up with a brilliant solution.	inseparable
count on	rely on	You can always count on me.	inseparable
cut down on	reduce the amount of	I'm trying to cut down on sugar.	inseparable
deal with	handle a problem or task	The manager will deal with your complaint.	inseparable
drop off	take someone somewhere and leave them	Can you drop me off at the station?	separable
end up	finally be in a situation	We got lost and ended up in the wrong town.	no object
figure out	understand or solve	I can't figure out how this machine works.	separable
get along	have a good relationship	Do you get along with your neighbours?	no object
get over	recover from	It took her months to get over the illness.	inseparable
get rid of	throw away; remove	We need to get rid of these old chairs.	inseparable
give in	finally agree after refusing	The children kept asking until their dad gave in.	no object
go ahead	start or continue; permission	"Can I ask a question?" "Sure, go ahead."	no object
go off	explode; ring (an alarm)	My alarm went off at six.	no object
go over	check or review	Let's go over the plan one more time.	inseparable
go through	experience something difficult	She went through a difficult time after the accident.	inseparable
hand in	give work to a teacher	Hand in your essays by Friday.	separable
hang out	spend time relaxing with people	We usually hang out at the park after school.	no object
hang up	end a phone call	He got angry and hung up on me.	no object
hold on	wait a short time	Hold on, I'll get a pen.	no object
keep on	continue doing	He kept on talking during the film.	inseparable
keep up with	move or progress at the same speed	It's hard to keep up with all the new technology.	inseparable
leave out	not include	You left out an important detail.	separable
let down	disappoint	I promised to help, and I won't let you down.	separable
look into	investigate	The police are looking into the robbery.	inseparable
make up	invent a story or excuse	He made up an excuse for being late.	separable
make up	become friends again after an argument	They argued, but they made up the next day.	no object
mix up	confuse two things	I always mix up their names.	separable
move in	start living in a new home	Our new neighbours moved in last week.	no object
move out	leave your home to live elsewhere	She moved out of her parents' house at twenty.	no object
pass away	die (polite)	His grandfather passed away last year.	no object
pay back	return money you borrowed	I'll pay you back on Friday.	separable
point out	draw attention to	She pointed out a mistake in my report.	separable
put off	delay, postpone	Don't put off your homework until Sunday night.	separable
put up with	tolerate	I can't put up with this noise any longer.	inseparable
run away	escape, leave suddenly	The dog ran away when it heard the thunder.	no object
run into	meet by chance	I ran into an old friend at the supermarket.	inseparable
run out of	have no more of something	We've run out of milk.	inseparable
set off	start a journey	We set off early to avoid the traffic.	no object
set up	start a business or organisation	They set up their own company in 2015.	separable
show off	try to impress people	He's always showing off his new car.	no object
show up	arrive, appear	Only five people showed up to the meeting.	no object
sort out	solve or organise	Don't worry, we'll sort it out.	separable
stand for	be an abbreviation of; represent	"UN" stands for United Nations.	inseparable
take after	look or behave like an older relative	She takes after her mother.	inseparable
take back	return something to a shop; withdraw words	I'm sorry; I take back what I said.	separable
take off	leave the ground (a plane)	The plane took off an hour late.	no object
take up	start a new hobby	I took up yoga last spring.	separable
tell off	speak angrily to someone who did wrong	The teacher told us off for talking.	separable
think over	consider carefully	Think it over and give me your answer tomorrow.	separable
turn down	refuse an offer	She turned down the job because the pay was too low.	separable
turn into	change into something different	The caterpillar turned into a butterfly.	inseparable
turn out	end in a particular way; prove to be	It turned out that he was right all along.	no object
watch out	be careful	Watch out for ice on the road.	no object
work out	exercise	I work out at the gym three times a week.	no object
work out	calculate or understand	Can you work out how much we owe?	separable
blow up	explode; destroy with explosives	The old bridge was blown up during the war.	separable
bring about	cause to happen	The internet brought about huge changes.	separable
carry out	do a task or plan	The scientists carried out several experiments.	separable
drop out	leave a course or competition early	He dropped out of university after one year.	no object
fall out	stop being friends after an argument	They fell out over money.	no object
fit in	feel accepted in a group	It took me a while to fit in at my new school.	no object
get across	communicate an idea clearly	He found it hard to get his ideas across.	separable
get away with	avoid punishment for	He cheated in the exam and got away with it.	inseparable
hold up	delay	Sorry I'm late; I was held up in traffic.	separable
kick off	start (a match or event)	The match kicks off at eight.	no object
lay off	end someone's job because there is no work	The factory laid off two hundred workers.	separable
look down on	think you are better than	Don't look down on people with less money.	inseparable
look up to	admire and respect	She has always looked up to her older sister.	inseparable
make out	see or hear with difficulty	I could just make out a figure in the fog.	separable
pass out	faint	It was so hot that a man passed out.	no object
rule out	decide something is not possible	The doctor ruled out a serious illness.	separable
see off	go to the station or airport to say goodbye	We went to the airport to see her off.	separable
stand out	be easy to notice	Her red coat stood out in the crowd.	no object
take in	understand and remember	There was too much information to take in.	separable
take over	take control of	A bigger company took over the business.	separable
wear out	make very tired; use until damaged	The long walk wore me out.	separable

What is a phrasal verb?

A phrasal verb is a verb plus one or two small words (particles) such as up, out, off or on, which together have a meaning of their own. Give and up are both easy words, but give up means "stop trying", which neither word says on its own.

Phrasal verbs are everywhere in spoken English and in fiction, which is why learners who know grammar and vocabulary well can still get lost in a conversation or a novel. They are also very common in exams such as Cambridge B2 First and IELTS.

Separable, inseparable and no object

Type	What it means	Example
No object	The verb has no object.	The plane took off. What's going on?
Separable	The object can go between the verb and the particle. A pronoun must go between.	Turn off the light. / Turn the light off. / Turn it off. (not turn off it)
Inseparable	The object always comes after the particle.	She looks after her brother. / She looks after him.

The type is shown for every verb in the list. If you are not sure, put the object after the particle: that works for both separable and inseparable verbs, except when the object is a pronoun such as it or them with a separable verb.

What the particles usually mean

Particles are not random. Many keep a core idea that helps you guess new phrasal verbs:

up: completion or increase (eat up, fill up, turn up, grow up).
down: decrease or stopping (slow down, calm down, turn down, break down).
out: out of something, or to the end (find out, run out of, work out, carry out).
off: away from, or stopping (take off, turn off, call off, set off).
on: continuing or attached (carry on, go on, keep on, put on).
back: returning (come back, give back, call back, pay back).

These are tendencies, not rules; make up (invent) and make up (become friends again) show how one phrasal verb can have several meanings.

How to learn phrasal verbs

Start with the essential group: these are the ones you hear in daily conversation.
Learn each phrasal verb with a whole sentence, not as a translation pair.
Group them by topic (travel: check in, set off, get on) or by particle.
Test yourself with the particle quiz above until you can choose the particle without the meaning hint.
Read and listen a lot. Phrasal verbs are learned from context: in the Okuzeka reader, tapping a phrasal verb in a book shows what the whole phrase means in that sentence.

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Phrasal verbs make sense in stories

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FAQ

Frequently asked questions

How many phrasal verbs are there in English?

Thousands, if you count every combination, but a few hundred cover everyday English. This page lists 131 of the most useful ones, with separate entries for different meanings such as take off (clothes) and take off (a plane).

What are the most common phrasal verbs?

Corpus studies such as Gardner and Davies (2007) find go on, carry out, set up, pick up, go back, come back, go out, point out and find out among the most frequent in English.

How do I know if a phrasal verb is separable?

Check the Type column in the list. With separable verbs a pronoun must go in the middle (turn it off); with inseparable verbs the object always follows the particle (look after them).

Are phrasal verbs informal?

Many are more common in speech than in formal writing, where a single verb is often preferred (find out → discover, put off → postpone). Most are perfectly neutral and used in all kinds of English.

Can I print the list?

Yes. Press "Print / save as PDF" above the list. Only the table is printed, and you can save it as a PDF from the print dialog.

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