100 Most Common Phrasal Verbs in English PDF

100 phrasal verbs to learn for life

Many people think that phrasal verbs are the hardest part of learning English. But they are what makes you sound like a native speaker. You need to know these verbs if you want to do well on the IELTS or TOEFL or just want to get better at talking to people every day.

What are phrasal verbs?

A phrasal verb is made up of a regular verb and a particle, which can be an adverb or a preposition. They are hard because the meaning of the combined phrase is often very different from the meaning of the original verb. "Look" means to see, but "look after" means to take care of someone.

Why should you learn phrasal verbs?

Natural Fluency: Phrasal verbs are used in almost every sentence by native speakers.
Professional Edge: Using "carry out" instead of "do" or "account for" instead of "explain" makes your business English sound more advanced.
Passing the Exam: High-level English tests your ability to understand and use phrasal verbs in the right way.

How to Use This Guide

We put together a list of the 100 most common phrasal verbs used in modern English. We suggest the following to get the most out of this list:

Study in parts; don't try to remember all 100 at once. Take ten verbs every day.
It's all about context: Check out the example sentences to see how the verb changes in a real conversation.
Practice: Use the verbs you learned today to make your own sentences.

100 most common phrasal verbs

ID	Phrasal Verb	Definition	Example Sentence
1	Account for	Explain or justify	How do you account for the sudden change?
2	Act up	Misbehave	The students began to act up in class.
3	Add up	Make sense	Her story just doesn't add up.
4	Aim at	Point a weapon at	The archer aimed at the target.
5	Ask around	Ask many people	I will ask around to find my watch.
6	Ask for	Request something	You should ask for help if needed.
7	Ask out	Invite on a date	He finally asked her out to dinner.
8	Back down	Withdraw position	Neither was willing to back down.
9	Back off	Leave a situation	The police told them to back off.
10	Back up	Move backwards	Please back up the car a bit.
11	Bear out	Confirm or support	The data bears out his theory.
12	Beat up	Hit repeatedly	He was beaten up in the fight.
13	Beef up	Improve/Strengthen	They beefed up the security.
14	Believe in	Feel confident about	You must believe in yourself.
15	Bite off	Bite a piece	Don't bite off too much.
16	Blow Away	Wind moves object	The wind blew away the leaves.
17	Blow Off	Remove by wind	The hat was blown off his head.
18	Blow Out	Extinguish flame	Blow out the candles, please.
19	Blow Up	Make explode	The bridge was blown up.
20	Boil Down To	Main reason	It boils down to money.
21	Break Down	Stop working	My car broke down again.
22	Break in	Make comfortable	I need to break in these boots.
23	Break Off	Remove with force	She broke off a piece of bread.
24	Break Out	Escape from jail	Three men broke out of prison.
25	Break Through	Force way through	The sun broke through the clouds.
26	Break Up	End relationship	They broke up last week.
27	Bring about	Cause to happen	Changes were brought about slowly.
28	Bring Back	Return something	Bring back my book tomorrow.
29	Bring Over	Bring to a place	Bring over your photos tonight.
30	Bring up	Raise a topic	Don't bring up that subject.
31	Brush Off	Remove with hand	He brushed off the dust.
32	Brush Up	Review a skill	I must brush up my English.
33	Buckle up	Fasten seat belt	Please buckle up for safety.
34	Build Into	Add in construction	The desk was built into the wall.
35	Bump Into	Meet unexpectedly	I bumped into him at the mall.
36	Burn Down	Destroy with fire	The house burned down.
37	Burn Out	Become exhausted	He burned out from overwork.
38	Burn Up	Destroy with heat	The paper burned up in seconds.
39	Burst Out	Start suddenly	She burst out crying.
40	Butt In	Interrupt	Don't butt in our conversation.
41	Call Back	Phone again	I will call you back later.
42	Call In	Request help	They called in the doctor.
43	Call off	To cancel	The game was called off.
44	Call Up	Phone someone	I’ll call up my mom today.
45	Calm down	To relax	Please calm down and listen.
46	Care For	Take care of	She cares for her sick cat.
47	Carry Away	Lose control	He got carried away by music.
48	Carry on	To continue	Carry on with your work.
49	Carry Out	Perform a task	They carried out the plan.
50	Catch on	Understand/Popular	The idea will soon catch on.
51	Catch Up	Reach same level	I need to catch up on work.
52	Check in	Register at hotel	We checked in at noon.
53	Check out	Leave/Investigate	Let's check out that shop.
54	Cheer up	Become happier	This news will cheer you up.
55	Chicken Out	Lose courage	He chickened out of the race.
56	Clean up	Tidy a place	It's time to clean up.
57	Clear out	Empty a space	We cleared out the attic.
58	Close Down	Stop operating	The bakery closed down.
59	Come across	Find by chance	I came across an old letter.
60	Come Back	To return	When will you come back?
61	Come down with	Become ill	I'm coming down with a cold.
62	Come Up With	Think of idea	He come up with a plan.
63	Count on	To rely on	You can count on me.
64	Cut back on	Reduce use	I must cut back on salt.
65	Cut off	To disconnect	The water was cut off.
66	Deal with	Handle/Manage	I can't deal with this now.
67	Die down	Less intense	The noise died down.
68	Dig into	Search for info	Let's dig into the details.
69	Do over	Do again	I had to do it over.
70	Do without	Manage without	I can't do without coffee.
71	Drag on	Last too long	The speech dragged on.
72	Draw up	Prepare document	We drew up the contract.
73	Dress up	Formal clothes	No need to dress up tonight.
74	Drop by	Visit briefly	Please drop by later.
75	Drop out	Quit school	He dropped out of school.
76	Eat out	Eat at restaurant	Let's eat out tonight.
77	End up	Reach eventually	We ended up at the beach.
78	Ease off	Less intense	The rain finally eased off.
79	Face up to	Accept reality	Face up to your mistakes.
80	Fall apart	Break to pieces	My shoes are falling apart.
81	Fall behind	Fail to keep pace	Don't fall behind in class.
82	Figure out	Solve/Understand	Can you figure out this?
83	Fill in	Complete form	Fill in your name here.
84	Find out	To discover	I'll find out the truth.
85	Finish off	Complete task	I'll finish off the report.
86	Focus on	Concentrate on	Focus on your goals.
87	Get along with	Good relations	I get along with him.
88	Get away with	Escape punishment	He won't get away with it.
89	Get over	Recover from	She got over the flu.
90	Give up	Stop trying	Never give up on hope.
91	Go on	To continue	Please go on talking.
92	Grow up	Become adult	Where did you grow up?
93	Hang out	Spend time social	We hang out on Sundays.
94	Hold on	Wait briefly	Hold on a minute.
95	Keep on	Continue doing	Keep on smiling.
96	Look after	Take care of	Look after the kids.
97	Look for	To search for	What are you looking for?
98	Put off	To postpone	Don't put off the exam.
99	Take off	Start flying	The plane takes off now.
100	Wake up	Stop sleeping	I wake up at 7 AM.

Phrasal Verbs Interactive Quiz:

Practice: Phrasal Verbs Mastery

Test your knowledge of the most essential phrasal verbs!

1. The firemen managed to ________ the fire before it spread.

2. I need to ________ on sugar to improve my health.

3. She finally ________ a brilliant solution to the problem.

4. Can you ________ for a moment? I'll check the schedule.

5. You can always ________ me if you need any help.

6. It took him months to ________ his injury.

7. We had to ________ the party because of the weather.

8. I ________ an old friend at the library yesterday.

9. You should ________ the application form carefully.

10. Never ________ on your dreams no matter what.

Download the top 100 English phrasal verbs PDF

Download 100 Phrasal Verbs PDF

Get the complete list of 100 essential phrasal verbs with Arabic meanings and examples in a high-quality PDF format.

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