WordieHow to Learn English Collocations: Types, 100+ Examples and Exercises
Knowing what a word means is only half the job. Native speakers say heavy rain, not strong rain, and make a mistake, not do a mistake. Those pairings are collocations, and you can learn them systematically.
- A collocation is a pair or group of words that native speakers habitually use together, such as make a decision, heavy rain or deeply concerned.
- The most useful types to learn are verb + noun, adjective + noun, adverb + adjective, verb + adverb, noun + noun and verb/adjective + preposition.
- Collocation errors rarely block understanding, but they are among the clearest signs of non-native writing and they cost marks in exams such as IELTS and Cambridge.
- Learn collocations by noticing them in reading, recording them as whole chunks, and reviewing them in sentences rather than learning words in isolation.
- Collocation dictionaries, learner dictionary examples and corpus searches let you check whether a combination is natural before you use it.
To learn collocations, stop learning words on their own and start recording them with the words they usually appear with: not decision but make a decision, not rain but heavy rain. Notice these combinations when you read, save them as whole chunks with an example sentence, review them like vocabulary, and check new combinations in a collocation dictionary before you use them.
A collocation is a group of words that native speakers habitually put together. There is no logical reason why it is heavy rain and not strong rain, or strong coffee and not heavy coffee. It is simply what speakers say, and learners have to learn it.
Why collocations matter
- They make you sound natural. "I did a big mistake" is understandable, but it marks you as a learner instantly. Collocation errors are among the most persistent errors even at advanced levels, because grammar books do not cover them.
- They make you faster. Fluent speakers retrieve chunks like take into account or a matter of time as single units. Michael Lewis's The Lexical Approach (1993) built a whole teaching philosophy on this idea.
- They improve comprehension. If you know that bitterly often goes with cold and disappointed, you read faster because you can predict what comes next.
- They score points. Speaking and writing rubrics for exams like IELTS and Cambridge C1 reward natural, precise word combinations. See the IELTS vocabulary guide.
The six main types of collocations
1. Verb + noun
The most important type, because the verbs (make, do, take, have, give, pay, catch) are everywhere and their choice is often arbitrary.
| Verb | Common collocations |
|---|---|
| make | a decision, a mistake, progress, an effort, a complaint, a suggestion, money, a difference, an appointment, sense of |
| do | homework, business, research, damage, your best, a favor, the dishes, harm, an exercise |
| take | a break, a risk, a photo, notes, responsibility, advantage of, place, part in, action |
| have | a look, a chat, a problem, an argument, a good time, an impact on |
| pay | attention, a compliment, a visit, the price, respects |
| catch | a cold, a bus, someone's eye, fire, your breath |
| raise | a question, concerns, awareness, prices, children, funds |
| meet | a deadline, a requirement, demand, expectations |
2. Adjective + noun
heavy rain / traffic / smoker / losses · strong coffee / wind / accent / argument · high price / level / standard / risk · deep sleep / concern / water · broad range / agreement / smile · major problem / role / change · significant increase / impact / difference · fast food · quick shower / question · common sense / mistake / ground
Notice the near-synonyms that do not swap: heavy traffic not thick traffic; high price not expensive price; a quick shower but fast food.
3. Adverb + adjective
Intensifiers are highly collocational. Very goes with almost anything; the more precise adverbs do not.
| Adverb | Typical partners |
|---|---|
| deeply | concerned, disappointed, moved, rooted, religious |
| highly | likely, unlikely, recommended, effective, qualified, competitive |
| bitterly | cold, disappointed, opposed |
| fully | aware, booked, equipped, committed |
| completely | different, wrong, free, unexpected |
| utterly | exhausted, ridiculous, devastated (mostly negative) |
| painfully | slow, obvious, shy |
4. Verb + adverb
argue strongly · whisper softly · smile broadly · vary widely · depend heavily on · increase dramatically / sharply · decline steadily · apologize profusely · listen carefully · fail miserably
5. Noun + noun and noun + of + noun
a sense of humor / urgency / relief · a round of applause / talks · a pang of guilt / jealousy · a bar of soap / chocolate · a flock of sheep / birds · traffic jam · pay rise (UK) / pay raise (US) · job interview · customer service · deadline extension
6. Verb / adjective / noun + preposition
These are the "small word" errors learners make most often.
| Collocation | Not | Example |
|---|---|---|
| depend on | depend of | It depends on the weather. |
| interested in | interested about | She's interested in design. |
| responsible for | responsible of | Who is responsible for this? |
| good at | good in (for skills) | He's good at math. |
| married to | married with | She's married to a doctor. |
| reason for | reason of | The reason for the delay was… |
| increase in | increase of (for the thing rising) | an increase in prices |
Verb + particle combinations with idiomatic meanings are a special case; they have their own guide: how to learn phrasal verbs.
Strong vs weak collocations
Some collocations are almost fixed: pitch dark, auburn hair, shrug your shoulders. The partner is so predictable that the phrase is close to an idiom. Others are weak: good idea, big house. Weak collocations follow normal meaning and rarely cause problems. Spend your effort on the middle ground: combinations that are frequent and that your first language would express differently. A Spanish speaker might say "make a question" (from hacer una pregunta), a German speaker "make a photo" (from ein Foto machen). Those are your priorities.
How to learn collocations: a practical method
- Notice them. When you read, pay attention to which words travel together, especially around nouns you already know. Ask: which verb did the writer use with decision? Which adjective with evidence?
- Record the chunk, not the word. Write reach a consensus, not consensus. Add one full sentence from the text. A word you save while reading on the web can be captured the same way: with Wordie you can save the word from the page in one click; add the collocation and sentence in your notes so the chunk is preserved.
- Organize around keywords. In a vocabulary notebook, give important nouns their own entry with verbs before and adjectives before: evidence: gather / provide / find / ignore + evidence; strong / clear / growing / anecdotal evidence.
- Review with blanks. Make cloze cards that hide the partner, not the keyword: "We need to ___ a decision by Friday." This trains exactly what you get wrong.
- Use them on purpose. In your next piece of writing, use three collocations from this week. Writing is where they move from recognition to production; see how to improve vocabulary for writing.
Resources for checking collocations
- Collocation dictionaries. Several publishers produce dedicated collocation dictionaries for learners, organized by keyword, listing typical verbs, adjectives and adverbs for each.
- Learner's dictionaries. The major English learner's dictionaries, in print and online, include example sentences and often highlight common combinations in bold.
- Corpora. Large online corpora of English let you search a word and see its most frequent neighbors. They take a little practice but are the most reliable source.
- Search engines, carefully. Searching a phrase in quotation marks and comparing hits ("strong rain" vs "heavy rain") gives a rough signal. Restrict to reliable sites, since many web pages are themselves written by learners.
- Your own reading. The richest source, because each collocation comes with a real context. Pair reading with sentence mining.
Exercises
A. Make or do?
- ___ a phone call
- ___ the laundry
- ___ an exception
- ___ someone a favor
- ___ a fortune
- ___ your hair
B. Choose the natural adjective
- There was (heavy / strong / big) traffic on the highway.
- She has a (strong / heavy / thick) French accent.
- It was a (big / high / large) risk, but it paid off.
- I need a (fast / quick / rapid) word with you.
C. Complete with an adverb
- The hotel was fully ______ (no rooms left).
- I'm ______ disappointed with the result. (very, and it hurts)
- This restaurant comes ______ recommended.
Answers
1 make; 2 do; 3 make; 4 do; 5 make; 6 do; 7 heavy; 8 strong; 9 big (high risk is also natural, especially in formal or technical contexts); 10 quick; 11 booked; 12 bitterly or deeply; 13 highly.
Conclusion
Collocations are the difference between English that is correct and English that sounds right. Focus on the verbs and nouns you use most, record words with their partners, review the partner rather than the keyword, and check new combinations before you rely on them. A few new chunks a day, picked up from real reading, will make your speaking and writing noticeably more natural within months.
Sources: Lewis, M. (1993), The Lexical Approach; Nation, I.S.P. (2001), Learning Vocabulary in Another Language.
Frequently asked questions
What is a collocation in English?
A collocation is a combination of words that frequently occur together and sound natural to native speakers, like fast food, take a photo or bitterly cold. Other combinations with the same meaning, such as quick food or make a photo, sound wrong.
Why are collocations important?
They make your English sound natural and help you speak and write more fluently, because you retrieve ready-made chunks instead of building phrases word by word. They also help comprehension, since you can predict what comes next.
What is the difference between make and do?
Broadly, make is used for creating or producing something (make a cake, make a decision, make a mistake), while do is used for tasks, work and activities (do homework, do the dishes, do business). There are many exceptions, so learn them as fixed pairs.
How many collocations should I learn?
There is no fixed number. Focus on the collocations of words you already know and use often, especially common verbs like make, do, take, have and get, and the key nouns of your field or exam.
How do I check if a collocation is correct?
Look it up in a collocation dictionary or a learner's dictionary, which list typical combinations, or search a large corpus or a search engine with the phrase in quotation marks and compare how often alternatives appear in reliable sources.
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