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Collins COBUILD English Usage

Table of contents
  • a - an
  • ability - capability - capacity
  • able - capable
  • above - over
  • accept - except
  • accuse - charge
  • advice - advise
  • affect - effect
  • afraid - frightened
  • after - afterwards - later
  • allow - permit - let - enable
  • almost - nearly
  • alone - lonely
  • aloud - loudly
  • also - too - as well
  • alternate - alternative
  • alternately - alternatively
  • although - though
  • anniversary - birthday
  • announcement - advertisement
  • anyone - anybody
  • arise - rise
  • around - round - about
  • arrive - reach
  • ashamed - embarrassed
  • assignment - homework
  • assist - be present
  • assure - ensure - insure
  • athletics - athletic
  • aural - oral
  • bad - badly
  • bank - bench - seat
  • bare - barely
  • bass - base
  • bath - bathe
  • beach - shore - coast
  • bear - bare
  • beside - besides
  • big - large - great
  • bill - check
  • blame - fault
  • boat - ship
  • bonnet - hood
  • boot - trunk
  • border - frontier - boundary
  • borrow - lend
  • brand - make
  • breathe - breath
  • bring - take - fetch
  • bring up - raise - educate
  • Britain - British - Briton
  • burgle - burglarize
  • bus - coach
  • café - coffee
  • called - named
  • can - could - be able to
  • careful - careless - carefree
  • carriage - car
  • carry - take
  • certain - sure
  • chair - chairperson - chairman - chairwoman
  • cheap - cheaply
  • chef - chief
  • chemist - pharmacist
  • chemist's - drugstore - pharmacy
  • childish - childlike
  • class - form - grade - year
  • classic - classical
  • cloakroom - checkroom
  • close - closed - shut
  • clothes - clothing - cloth
  • collaborate - cooperate
  • comic - comical - funny
  • comment - commentary
  • comment - mention - remark
  • complement - compliment
  • comprehensible - comprehensive
  • comprehension - understanding
  • concerto - concert
  • confidant - confident
  • conscious - consciousness - conscience - conscientious
  • constant - continual - continuous
  • convince - persuade
  • cooker - cook
  • cot - crib - camp bed
  • council - counsel
  • critic - critical
  • cry - weep
  • cup - glass - mug
  • cupboard - wardrobe - closet
  • curb - kerb
  • customer - client
  • delay - cancel - postpone - put off
  • desert - dessert
  • destroy - spoil - ruin
  • detail - details
  • difference - distinction
  • dinner - lunch
  • directly - direct
  • disc - disk
  • discussion - argument
  • dislike - not like
  • dispose of - get rid of
  • disturb - disturbed
  • each other - one another
  • easy - easily
  • effective - efficient
  • electric - electrical - electronic
  • emigration - immigration - migration
  • employ - use
  • especially - specially
  • eventually - finally
  • everyday - every day
  • everyone - everybody
  • exam - examination
  • excited - exciting
  • exhausted - exhausting - exhaustive
  • experience - experiment
  • explode - blow up
  • fair - fairly
  • female - feminine
  • few - a few
  • fine - finely
  • first - firstly
  • first name - Christian name - forename - given name
  • fit - suit
  • flat - apartment
  • floor - ground
  • forward - forwards
  • free - freely
  • frighten - frightened
  • fun - funny
  • gain - earn
  • gas - petrol
  • generally - mainly
  • get to - grow to
  • glad - happy - cheerful
  • go into - get into - get on
  • good - well
  • go out - get out - get off
  • ground floor - first floor
  • habit - custom
  • half - half of
  • hard - hardly
  • have - take
  • he - she - they
  • heap - stack - pile
  • high - tall
  • hire - rent - let
  • holiday - vacation
  • homework - housework
  • ill - sick
  • illness - disease
  • indicate - show
  • indoors - indoor
  • industrious - industrial
  • information - news
  • in spite of - despite
  • instead - instead of
  • interested - interesting
  • its - it's
  • journey - trip - voyage - excursion
  • last - lastly
  • late - lately
  • latter - former
  • lay - lie
  • let's - let us
  • library - bookshop
  • lift - elevator
  • like - as - the way
  • little - a little
  • look after - look for
  • loose - lose
  • lorry - truck
  • lucky - happy
  • luggage - baggage
  • made from - made of - made out of
  • magazine - shop
  • male - masculine
  • manage - arrange
  • manufacture - factory
  • marmalade - jam - jelly
  • marriage - wedding
  • married - marry
  • mathematics - maths - math
  • meaning - intention - opinion
  • might - may
  • migrate - migration - migrant
  • near - close
  • nervous - anxious - irritated - annoyed
  • north - northern
  • note - bill
  • obligation - duty
  • occasion - opportunity - chance
  • offer - give - invite
  • one - you - we - they
  • outdoors - outdoor
  • pair - couple
  • pants - shorts
  • parcel - package - packet
  • parking - car park
  • people - person
  • percentage - per cent
  • point of view - view - opinion
  • politics - policy - political
  • position - post - job
  • possibility - opportunity
  • possible - possibly
  • post - mail
  • power - strength
  • practice - practise
  • price - cost
  • price - prize
  • principal - principle
  • produce - product
  • professor - teacher
  • programme - program
  • prove - test
  • pub - bar
  • quiet - quite
  • receipt - recipe
  • recognize - realize
  • regret - be sorry
  • relation - relative - relationship
  • relieve - relief
  • remain - stay
  • remember - remind
  • remove - move
  • result - effect
  • ring - call
  • rise - raise
  • rob - steal
  • role - roll
  • safe - secure
  • salad - lettuce
  • salary - wages
  • salute - greet
  • same - similar
  • scarce - scarcely
  • scene - sight - view - landscape - scenery
  • school - university
  • see - look at - watch
  • send - sent
  • sensible - sensitive
  • shadow - shade
  • shall - will
  • sheep - lamb
  • shop - store
  • short - shortly - briefly
  • should - ought to
  • skilful - skilled
  • sleep - asleep
  • small - little
  • so - very - too
  • social - sociable
  • someone - somebody
  • sometimes - sometime
  • sort of - kind of
  • sound - noise
  • southwards - southward
  • souvenir - memory
  • speak - say - tell
  • speak - talk
  • spend - pass
  • start - begin
  • stationary - stationery
  • statistics - statistical
  • sting - bite
  • storey - floor
  • strange - unusual
  • street - road - lane
  • subway - underground - metro
  • surely - definitely - certainly - naturally
  • sweets - candy
  • terrible - terribly
  • that - those
  • thief - robber - burglar
  • this - that
  • this - these
  • title - headline
  • toward - towards
  • transport - transportation
  • true - come true
  • try - attempt
  • under - below - beneath
  • understand - realize
  • until - till
  • upwards - upward
  • usual - usually
  • victim - casualty
  • wake - waken
  • -ward - -wards
  • weather - whether
  • westwards - westward
  • who - whom
  • wide - broad
  • widow - widower
  • win - defeat - beat
  • woman - lady
  • your - you're
  • yourself - yourselves
Collins COBUILD English Usage
Collins COBUILD English Usage has been written by expert lexicographers to help upper-intermediate and advanced learners and teachers with essential aspects of the English language. This reliable and authoritative text helps learners to use individual words correctly, choose the right words and structures for the meaning they want to convey by explaining what English words mean, and providing information on how the words actually work.
English Usage and the Collins Corpus
Each entry has a clear explanation of when and how to use the word, and also includes examples from the Collins Corpus. These show how the words are really used in everyday English, and therefore help learners use the language naturally and effectively. The text provides clear information on easily confused words, words with similar meanings, and help with words that are often tricky for learners to understand.

Find out more.
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May 17, 2026
Word of the day
emblem
a visible object or representation that symbolizes a quality, type, group, etc, esp the concrete symbol of an abstract idea
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Scrabble score
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12

Quick word challenge

Quiz Review

Question: 1
-

Score: 0 / 5

affect or effect?
Drag the correct answer into the box.
effect
affect
What   will this change have on you?
of or to?
Drag the correct answer into the box.
to
of
I felt it was appropriate   announce my retirement when I did.
on or that?
Which version is correct?
My parents insisted on paying for dinner. My parents insisted that paying for dinner.
that or what?
Which version is correct?
Why didn't you tell me that you're getting married? Why didn't you tell me what you're getting married?
about or if?
Which version is correct?
There's nothing tricky about cooking a good steak. There's nothing tricky if cooking a good steak.
Your score:

New from Collins
New collocations added to dictionary
Collocations are words that are often used together and are brilliant at providing natural-sounding language for your speech and writing. October 30, 2020 Read more
Grammar or vocabulary? A blurry line
Grammar and vocabulary are two of the key strands of language learning, yet are they really as separate as we tend to view them? Read more
What on earth is The Schwa?
When reading our colleague's post over on the Collins English Language Learning blog, I heard about The Schwa sound for the very first time, and thought it would be useful to replicate some of the content here. Read more
Confused about English?
Come over to our Video Pronunciations page and cut through any confusion! Learn how to pronounce commonly confused words correctly. Read more
Collins COBUILD English Grammar
Collins COBUILD English Grammar is based on the evidence of the 4.5-billion-word Collins Corpus, and is an invaluable guide to the English language as it is written and spoken today, in all areas of the world. It takes into account significant changes in grammar over recent years. This new edition is also accompanied by a series of engaging blogs and guided worksheets that aim to encourage learners and teachers of English to explore and discuss the teaching and learning of grammar: https://news.collinselt.com/ Read more
Easy Learning English Grammar
With clear, concise explanations on everything from adverbs to word order, and from apostrophes to semicolons, this book is indispensable for understanding correct usage. Read more
9 video guides to Grammar Patterns
Our series of videos show us how words are associated with particular types of grammatical patterning and how grammar patterns are associated with groups of words which share similar or related meanings. Read more
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