150 Most Common Phrasal Verbs

Useful Phrases to Know

Save this document into your own files, delete the words you already know, then study the remaining words on your list. Copy them into a flashcard app to study and quiz yourself.

Back up: Support; make a copy of, especially for storage in another place as a security copy
Blow up: Explode or destroy; happen suddenly (a storm, an argument)
Break down: Stop working or functioning; fail or collapse; divide or separate into categories or smaller components; end a relationship
Break off: Stop speaking suddenly, especially something undesirable and unpleasant; escape (break out of)
Break up: End a relationship; divide into smaller parts or components
Bring about: Make something happen, especially to cause changes in a situation
Bring back: Make something or somebody return to a place, state, situation, or conversation topic; bring something one has taken from a place they come from
Bring down: Cause somebody or something to move downward or fall to the ground; reduce the rate, level, or amount of something; cause a government or politician to low power
Bring in: Use the skills of a particular group or person; introduce a new law or system
Bring out: Produce a new product and start to sell it; make a particular detail, quality, or feeling more noticeable
Bring up: Start discussing a subject; to look after a child until he/she becomes an adult
Call out: Shout something, especially when you are trying to get someone’s attention
Carry on: Continue to do something
Carry out: Do a piece of work, research, etc.
Catch up: To become unexpectedly involved in an unpleasant or annoying situation; go faster so that you reach the person or vehicle in front of you; reach the same level or standard as somebody or something that is more advanced
Check out: Examine, have a look at; to leave a hotel or a private hospital after paying the bill; to pay at a store
Clean up: Remove dirt or mess in a place or area; make something free from dangerous, unacceptable, or controversial activities or content
Close down: Stop operating or functioning
Come about: Happen, especially by chance
Come along: Arrive or become available; go somewhere with somebody
Come around: Convert to an opinion or decision; go to a place where someone is, especially their house, in order to visit them
Come back: Return
Come down: Move down to the ground or to a lower level; reduce itself to the most important aspect of a situation or a problem; become lower in amount or value
Come in: Enter; take part in a discussion
Come off: Become detached or removed from a larger whole; stop taking something such as a medicine or drug
Come on: Phrase used to encourage somebody to do something, say something, or try harder; used to show disbelieve, disagreement, or anger
Come out: Leave a place; become known or revealed after being kept secret; make public knowledge a privately held position; become available or released to the public
Come over: Come to a place or area, especially towards somebody or to join somebody
Come through: Be clearly perceived, noticed, or seen; continue to be alive, working, or making progress after a difficult or dangerous experience
Come up: Come near; be happening soon (especially on radio/TV)
Cut off: Remove something by cutting it; prevent somebody from continuing what they are saying; stop supply (of money, etc.)
End up: To find yourself in a place or situation that you did not intend or expect to be in
Figure out: Be able to understand something or to solve a problem
Fill in: Add or put in whatever is needed to make something complete; do another person’s job temporarily; give somebody all the necessary information
Fill out: Complete a form or official document
Find out: Discover
Follow up: Do something in addition to what you have already done, in order to be certain of something; find out more information about something
Get back: Return
Get down: Lower one’s body by kneeling, sitting, or lying; begin to pay serious attention to something (get down to)
Get in: Go inside a place; get involved in an exciting or profitable activity (get in on)
Get off: Leave (a train, bus, plane, elevator); begin something in a certain way; mange to avoid serious trouble or consequences
Get on: Enter a form of public transportation (train, bus, plane, elevator); continue doing something, especially with more effort or more quickly than before; used for asking or talking about how well someone has done a particular activity
Get out: Leave or remove
Get through: Succeed in contacting somebody on the telephone; overcome something, especially difficult or unpleasant; make someone understand what you are trying to say (get through to)
Get up: Get out of bed from lying or to rise from a lower position
Give back: Return something
Give in: Yield; stop fighting and admit defeat
Give out: Give something, usually to several people; stop working, come to an end
Give up: Stop doing or having something; quit, abandon
Go ahead: Start or continue to do something
Go along: Progress or proceed with an activity; act in cooperation or express agreement
Go around: Go from one place or person to another; circulate; visit a person or place
Go back: Return
Go down: Move down to a lower level or position; decrease in value or amount, go from one place to another, especially one that is further south or underneath
Go in: Enter
Go off: Leave a place, especially for a particular purpose; start making a noise as a signal or warning; explode or be fired
Go out: Leave your house to go somewhere (especially to do something enjoyable); to have a romantic relationship with someone
Go over: Move towards a place or person, especially by crossing an area; examine or discuss each part of something in detail to understand or remember it better or make sure it is correct
Go through: Experience something difficult or unpleasant; be officially accepted or approved
Go up: Become higher in amount or value; move to a higher level
Grow up: Gradually advance in age and maturity
Hand over: Give something to somebody by holding it in one’s hand and offering it to them; surrender control or responsibility for something or somebody to somebody else, especially officially
Hang on: Hold on, grasp
Hang out: Spend time relaxing or enjoying oneself
Hang up: Stop using the telephone at the end of a conversation
Hold back: Stop somebody from going somewhere or from reaching their full potential; decide not to do or say something; not show what you are thinking or feeling
Hold on: Refuse to let go of something; wait for a short time
Hold out: Move one’s hand or an object in one’s hand forward or towards somebody in order to give or take something; express a thought that something is likely to happen or succeed
Hold up: Hold something in a high position; remain strong or in a fairly good condition; delay or prevent the progression of something or somebody
Keep on: Continue
Keep up: Move, progress, or increase at the same rate or pace as somebody or something; continue to do something, maintain
Lay down: Put something down in order to show you are not going to use it again; state officially what someone must do or how they must do it; non-standard way of saying lie down
Lay out: Explain something carefully and clearly; spread something out or arrange things so you can see them easily
Line up: To form a row or to put people or things in a row
Look around: Walk around somewhere to see what is there
Look back: Think about a time or event in the past; look at something or somebody again after having momentarily looked elsewhere
Look down: Lower one’s eyes to see what is below
Look out: Look outside or at the horizon; take care of someone and make sure that they are treated well (look out for)
Look up: Raise one’s eyes; find information
Make out: See, hear, or understand with difficulty; represent as being a particular way, especially falsely
Make up: Combine to form; replace or compensate; make a decision
Move back: Return to a place one has lived in before
Move in: Start living in a different house or apartment; go towards somebody or something, especially to attack or take control of them
Move on: Change (subject, job, discussion, etc.); forget about a difficult experience and move forward mentally or emotionally
Move out: Leave one’s place of residence permanently
Move up: Go to a better job, higher level, etc.
Open up: Make something available or possible; open something that was closed
Pass on: Circulate or communicate; transmit from generation to generation
Pay off: Pay the complete amount of something; yield good results; succeed
Pick out: Choose somebody or something mong a number of alternatives; detect or be noticed among a group of things or people
Pick up: Get or take somebody/something from a place
Play out: Develop or end in a particular way
Point out: Direct attention towards something
Pull back: Withdraw or retreat from an activity or location
Pull out: Take something out of somewhere; stop being involved in an activity, event, or situation
Pull up: Stop or cause a vehicle to stop; move a seat near to where someone is sitting and sit on it
Put back: Put something in the place where it was before it was moved; change the time or date of an event so that it happens later than originally planned
Put down: Place something or somebody on the floor or on a flat surface; criticize somebody or make them feel stupid
Put in: Invest something such as time or effort to achieve something; make an official request, claim, offer, etc.
Put on: Start wearing something
Put out: Make something known or accessible to the public; stop something from burning; put something somewhere in order for it to be seen or used
Put up: Display or attach something (e.g,. to a wall); build or place something somewhere; tolerate (put up with)
Reach out: Stretch an arm in order to hold or touch something that is within a short distance; make an effort to address or communicate with somebody so as to help them or involve them in something
Rule out: Stop considering something as a possibility
Run out: Have none left
Send out: Send a lot of copies of the same document to a large number of people, send something to a place for a particular purpose
Set about: Begin doing something, especially in a determined or enthusiastic way
Set down: State officially how something should be done; place something on a surface or on the ground
Set off: Begin a journey; cause something to explode or start working (especially by accident); cause a situation or a series of events to happen, especially without intending to
Set out: Start doing or working on something, especially with a particular goal in mind; start a journey; explain or present something clearly, especially officially and in writing
Set up: Create or start something; arrange for something to happen
Settle down: Begin to live a quieter life by getting married or staying permanently in a place; become calmer, quieter, more orderly; get into a comfortable position
Show up: Arrive in a place where people are expecting you
Shut down: Stop (or make something stop) working or operating
Shut up: To stop talking or making a noise
Sit back: Deliberately take no action or remain passive about something
Sit down: Move from a standing position to a sitting position
Sit up: Go from a lying position to a sitting position
Slow down: Move, proceed, or progress at a slower pace
Sort out: Do what is needed to solve a problem, conflict, or difficult situation; find out information to understand something
Stand out: Be much more impressive or important than other people or things; be easily seen or noticeable
Stand up: Put your body into an upright position from a sitting or lying position; to defend or support an idea or person
Start out: Start a life, existence, profession, or course of action in a particular way or by doing a particular thing
Step back: Stop for a moment in order to consider something
Sum up: Give a summary of something
Take back: Return something that you bought because it is broken or not suitable; accept someone again after they left a relationship and want to return to it
Take down: Remove something that was previously put up or put in place; destroy, kill, or disable; write down information or a statement
Take in: Allow someone to stay in your house or your country; fully understand or grasp the meaning of something; deceive by behaving in a dishonest way
Take off: Remove something, especially a piece of clothing; leave a place, especially suddenly; leave the ground and rise into the air
Take on: Accept some work or responsibility; begin to have a particular quality or appearance
Take out: Remove something from somewhere; invite somebody to a place and usually pay for them; obtain an official document or service from an authority
Take over: Begin to do something that somebody else was doing; take control of something
Take up: Use a particular amount of space, time, or effort; discuss or deal with an issue, idea, matter; start doing something regularly as a habit or interest
Throw out: Refuse to accept or consider; force someone to leave a group or place
Turn around: Move to face in the opposite direction; make something become better or more successful than it previously was
Turn back: Return the same way that you came instead of continuing on your journey
Turn down: Refuse or dismiss; reduce the amount of sound, heat, or light
Turn off: Stop a piece of equipment working temporarily, or a supply flowing, by turning a tap, pressing a button, or moving a switch; make someone feel bored or no longer interested in something
Turn out: Happen in a particular way
Turn over: Surrender possession or control to somebody or something; change position so that the other side is facing towards another direction
Turn up: Produce; be (or make something be) found, discovered, or noticed; increase the volume or level of something; arrive or make an appearance somewhere
Wake up: Become (or make somebody become) conscious again after being asleep
Walk out: Leave a place or event, especially suddenly or angrily
Wind up: Be in a particular situation, condition, or place, especially an unpleasant one, not because you choose to but because of other things that have happened
Work out: Plan, devise, or think about something carefully or in detail; exercise; happen or develop in a particular way
Write down: Record information on paper