Phrasal verbs are everywhere in English.

We use them when we wake up in the morning, get ready for school, look for a missing notebook, write down homework, find out an answer, catch up with classmates, and give up something we no longer want to do.

That is why learning phrasal verbs for students can make a big difference to a student’s English.

Instead of memorising hundreds of expressions without context, it is much easier to understand phrasal verbs through their meanings and example sentences.

In this guide, you will learn:

Let’s begin.

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What Is a Phrasal Verb?

A phrasal verb is a multi-word verb formed from a verb together with one or more particles, usually an adverb or preposition.

The combination often has a meaning different from the meaning of the original verb.

For example:

give + up = give up

The verb give usually means to provide something to someone.

But give up means to stop trying or stop doing something.

More Examples

Base Verb	Phrasal Verb	Meaning
Look	Look after	Take care of
Give	Give up	Stop trying
Find	Find out	Discover
Turn	Turn on	Activate
Put	Put off	Postpone
Pick	Pick up	Collect or lift
Run	Run out of	Have none left
Carry	Carry on	Continue

This change in meaning is one reason students should learn phrasal verbs as complete expressions rather than trying to translate every word separately.

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Why Are Phrasal Verbs for Students Important?

Phrasal verbs for students are important because they occur frequently in everyday English.

1. They Improve Spoken English

Compare:

Please continue your work.

with:

Please carry on with your work.

Both are correct, but knowing expressions such as carry on helps students understand and participate in natural everyday conversations.

2. They Build Vocabulary

Learning one simple verb can lead to several useful expressions.

For example:

look

can become:

• look after
• look around
• look at
• look back
• look for
• look forward to
• look into
• look out
• look over
• look up

Each expression has a different use.

3. They Improve Reading Comprehension

Phrasal verbs for students appear in stories, conversations, news articles, instructions, textbooks, and other everyday English texts.

Knowing their meanings makes reading easier.

4. They Help in Exams

Phrasal verbs for students in vocabulary, reading comprehension, fill-in-the-blank, editing, sentence-completion, and other language exercises may be encounter.

5. They Improve Writing

Phrasal verbs for students give more ways to express ideas without repeating the same vocabulary.

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160+ Phrasal Verbs for Students of common phrasal verbs for students.

Rather than simply memorising the list, read each example sentence and notice how the phrasal verb is used.

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Phrasal Verbs for Students 1–20: School and Studying

#	Phrasal Verb	Meaning	Example Sentence
1	Hand in	Submit	Please hand in your homework tomorrow.
2	Write down	Record in writing	Write down the important points in your notebook.
3	Look up	Search for information	Look up the word in a dictionary.
4	Find out	Discover	We need to find out why the experiment failed.
5	Work out	Solve	Can you work out this maths problem?
6	Figure out	Understand or solve	I finally figured out the answer.
7	Read over	Read to check	Read over your answers before submitting the paper.
8	Go over	Review	Let’s go over this chapter before the test.
9	Point out	Draw attention to	The teacher pointed out my spelling mistake.
10	Cross out	Draw a line through	Cross out the incorrect answer.
11	Fill in	Complete missing information	Fill in the blanks with suitable words.
12	Catch up	Reach the same level	I missed two classes and need to catch up.
13	Fall behind	Fail to keep up	Don’t fall behind with your studies.
14	Keep up	Stay at the same level	She studies daily to keep up with the class.
15	Think over	Consider carefully	Think over the question before answering.
16	Put off	Postpone	Don’t put off your homework until tomorrow.
17	Brush up on	Improve an old skill	I need to brush up on my grammar before the exam.
18	Check over	Examine for mistakes	Check over your calculations carefully.
19	Learn by heart	Memorise completely	We had to learn the poem by heart.
20	Read up on	Study a subject by reading	I read up on volcanoes before the science project.

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Phrasal Verbs for Students 21–40: Everyday Activities

#	Phrasal Verb	Meaning	Example Sentence
21	Wake up	Stop sleeping	I wake up at 6:30 every morning.
22	Get up	Leave your bed	I usually get up immediately after the alarm rings.
23	Put on	Wear	Put on your sweater before going outside.
24	Take off	Remove clothing	Take off your shoes before entering.
25	Try on	Wear something to test it	Can I try on this jacket?
26	Wash up	Wash dishes or clean yourself	We washed up after dinner.
27	Clean up	Make something clean	Please clean up your room.
28	Tidy up	Make neat	Tidy up your desk before leaving.
29	Throw away	Discard	Don’t throw away recyclable paper.
30	Put away	Return to its proper place	Put away your books after studying.
31	Take out	Remove from somewhere	Take out your notebook.
32	Pick up	Lift or collect	Please pick up the pencil from the floor.
33	Put down	Place on a surface	Put down the box carefully.
34	Turn on	Activate	Turn on the computer.
35	Turn off	Deactivate	Turn off the lights before leaving.
36	Switch on	Activate	Switch on the fan, please.
37	Switch off	Deactivate	Remember to switch off the television.
38	Get ready	Prepare	Get ready for school.
39	Hurry up	Do something faster	Hurry up, or we’ll miss the bus.
40	Slow down	Reduce speed	Slow down when you reach the crossing.

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Phrasal Verbs for Students 41–60: Friends, Family and Social Life

#	Phrasal Verb	Meaning	Example Sentence
41	Get along	Have a good relationship	My brother and I get along well.
42	Hang out	Spend time socially	We hang out after school sometimes.
43	Look after	Take care of	Can you look after my dog?
44	Grow up	Become an adult	What do you want to be when you grow up?
45	Count on	Depend on	You can count on me for help.
46	Cheer up	Become happier	Cheer up! Tomorrow will be better.
47	Calm down	Become calmer	Please calm down and explain what happened.
48	Open up	Talk more freely	He eventually opened up about his worries.
49	Make up	Become friendly again	The two friends argued but later made up.
50	Fall out	Have an argument	They fell out over a small misunderstanding.
51	Get together	Meet socially	Our friends get together every Sunday.
52	Come over	Visit someone’s home	My cousin is coming over this evening.
53	Drop by	Visit briefly	My friend dropped by after school.
54	Call back	Return a phone call	I’ll call you back after class.
55	Hang up	End a phone call	Don’t hang up yet.
56	Speak up	Speak louder	Please speak up so everyone can hear.
57	Join in	Participate	Everyone joined in the game.
58	Help out	Give assistance	I helped out with the school event.
59	Stand by	Support	Good friends stand by each other.
60	Look up to	Admire	Many children look up to their teachers.

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Phrasal Verbs for Students 61–80: Travel and Movement

#	Phrasal Verb	Meaning	Example Sentence
61	Set off	Begin a journey	We set off early in the morning.
62	Take off	Leave the ground	The plane took off on time.
63	Get in	Enter a car	Get in the car quickly.
64	Get out	Leave a vehicle/place	We got out of the taxi.
65	Get on	Enter public transport	We got on the bus at the next stop.
66	Get off	Leave public transport	Get off at the railway station.
67	Come back	Return	When will you come back?
68	Go back	Return	I need to go back home.
69	Move in	Begin living somewhere	Our new neighbours moved in yesterday.
70	Move out	Stop living somewhere	They moved out last month.
71	Stop over	Stay briefly during a journey	We stopped over in Mumbai before continuing our journey.
72	See off	Say goodbye to someone leaving	We went to the station to see her off.
73	Pick up	Collect someone	Dad will pick me up after school.
74	Drop off	Take someone somewhere	Mum dropped me off at school.
75	Head for	Move towards	We headed for the station.
76	Go away	Leave	They went away for the weekend.
77	Come along	Accompany	Would you like to come along with us?
78	Walk around	Walk through an area	We walked around the museum.
79	Turn back	Return in the opposite direction	Heavy rain forced us to turn back.
80	Pull over	Move a vehicle to the side	The driver pulled over safely.

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Phrasal Verbs for Students 81–100: Problems and Solutions

#	Phrasal Verb	Meaning	Example Sentence
81	Break down	Stop functioning	Our school bus broke down this morning.
82	Run out of	Have none left	We ran out of paper.
83	Deal with	Handle	We need to deal with the problem calmly.
84	Sort out	Resolve	The teacher helped us sort out the misunderstanding.
85	Give up	Stop trying	Never give up because a problem seems difficult.
86	Carry on	Continue	Carry on with your work.
87	Keep on	Continue repeatedly	Keep on practising.
88	Try out	Test	Let’s try out this new method.
89	Start over	Begin again	I made a mistake and had to start over.
90	Come up with	Produce an idea	Riya came up with a clever solution.
91	Get over	Recover from	He quickly got over his disappointment.
92	Get through	Successfully finish	We got through all the questions.
93	Break up	Separate into smaller parts	Break up the task into smaller steps.
94	Cut down on	Reduce	We should cut down on plastic waste.
95	Get rid of	Remove	We need to get rid of unnecessary files.
96	Make do with	Manage using what is available	We had to make do with the materials we had.
97	Rule out	Eliminate as a possibility	The experiment ruled out one explanation.
98	Narrow down	Reduce the number of possibilities	We narrowed down the choices to three.
99	Straighten out	Resolve a difficulty	We finally straightened out the confusion.
100	Work through	Deal with step by step	Let’s work through the problem together.

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Phrasal Verbs for Students 101–120: Communication and Thinking

#	Phrasal Verb	Meaning	Example Sentence
101	Bring up	Mention	She brought up an interesting question.
102	Talk over	Discuss	Let’s talk over the problem.
103	Point out	Mention or indicate	He pointed out an error in the diagram.
104	Speak out	Express an opinion openly	Students should speak out respectfully when something is wrong.
105	Call back	Return a call	I’ll call back after dinner.
106	Get across	Communicate successfully	The diagram helped get the idea across.
107	Sum up	Summarise	The teacher summed up the lesson.
108	Spell out	Explain clearly	Let me spell out the instructions.
109	Talk about	Discuss	We talked about climate change in class.
110	Ask around	Ask several people	I asked around, but nobody had seen my notebook.
111	Think about	Consider	Think about what you want to achieve.
112	Think through	Consider carefully	Think through your answer before writing it.
113	Find out	Discover	I found out how rainbows form.
114	Look into	Investigate	The teacher will look into the issue.
115	Make out	Understand or see with difficulty	I couldn’t make out the writing on the board.
116	Catch on	Begin to understand	She caught on very quickly.
117	Come across	Find unexpectedly	I came across an interesting science article.
118	Go through	Examine carefully	Let’s go through your answers.
119	Think back	Remember the past	Think back to what we learned yesterday.
120	Work out	Understand	I finally worked out what he meant.

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Phrasal Verbs for Students 121–140: Actions and Events

#	Phrasal Verb	Meaning	Example Sentence
121	Call off	Cancel	They called off the match because of rain.
122	Set up	Arrange or establish	Students set up the science exhibition.
123	Take part in	Participate	Everyone should take part in the activity.
124	Show up	Arrive	He showed up ten minutes late.
125	Turn up	Arrive or appear	More students turned up than expected.
126	Put up	Display	We put up posters around the classroom.
127	Take down	Remove or write	Please take down the decorations after the event.
128	Give out	Distribute	The teacher gave out the question papers.
129	Hand out	Distribute	Volunteers handed out notebooks.
130	Bring back	Return	Please bring back the library book tomorrow.
131	Give back	Return something	Give back my pencil when you’re finished.
132	Take over	Assume control	Our new captain took over the team.
133	Carry out	Perform	Students carried out an experiment.
134	Go ahead	Proceed	The teacher told us to go ahead with the project.
135	Hold up	Delay	Heavy traffic held up the bus.
136	Leave out	Omit	Don’t leave out important details.
137	Put together	Assemble	We put together a model of the solar system.
138	Tear down	Remove by pulling apart	Workers tore down the damaged structure.
139	Wrap up	Finish	Let’s wrap up today’s lesson.
140	Carry through	Complete successfully	The team carried the plan through successfully.

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Phrasal Verbs for Students 141–160: Useful Everyday English

#	Phrasal Verb	Meaning	Example Sentence
141	Look for	Search	I’m looking for my notebook.
142	Look out	Be careful	Look out! There’s a bicycle coming.
143	Look around	Explore	We looked around the science museum.
144	Look forward to	Feel excited about something future	I’m looking forward to the school trip.
145	Come in	Enter	Please come in and sit down.
146	Go out	Leave home for an activity	We went out for dinner.
147	Eat out	Eat at a restaurant	Our family occasionally eats out on weekends.
148	Give away	Donate	We gave away our old books.
149	Bring along	Bring with you	Bring along your notebook tomorrow.
150	Take back	Return or retract	I need to take back this library book.
151	Put back	Return to its original place	Put back the book when you’re finished.
152	Hold on	Wait	Hold on for a minute.
153	Hang on	Wait	Hang on while I get my bag.
154	Move on	Continue to something new	Let’s move on to the next question.
155	Pass around	Distribute among people	Pass around the worksheets.
156	Come up	Arise or occur	An important question came up during class.
157	End up	Eventually reach a situation	We took the wrong road and ended up near the lake.
158	Turn down	Reject	She turned down the invitation.
159	Take up	Begin an activity	He took up chess last year.
160	Cut out	Remove	Cut out the picture carefully.

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10 More Common Phrasal Verbs for Students

Here are ten bonus expressions students are likely to encounter.

#	Phrasal Verb	Meaning	Example
161	Break into	Enter forcibly	Someone tried to break into the shop.
162	Pass away	Die	The writer passed away many years ago.
163	Pass out	Faint	He almost passed out because of the heat.
164	Show off	Try to impress others	He likes to show off his football skills.
165	Turn down	Refuse	She turned down the offer politely.
166	Pick out	Choose	Pick out the correct answer.
167	Take away	Remove	Please take away the empty boxes.
168	Go on	Continue	Please go on with your story.
169	Come in	Enter	Come in when your name is called.
170	Go out	Stop burning or shining	The lights went out during the storm.

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Important Phrasal Verb Grammar Rules

Knowing the meaning of a phrasal verb is only the first step.

Students should also understand how to use phrasal verbs correctly.

1. Some Phrasal Verbs Are Separable

With some phrasal verbs, the object can come between the verb and particle.

For example:

Turn off the light.

You can also say:

Turn the light off.

Both are correct.

Similarly:

Pick up the book.

or

Pick the book up.

Pronouns Usually Go in the Middle

When a separable phrasal verb takes a pronoun object, the pronoun normally goes between the verb and particle.

Correct: Turn it off.

Incorrect: Turn off it.

Correct: Pick it up.

Incorrect: Pick up it.

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2. Some Phrasal Verbs Are Inseparable

Some expressions cannot normally be separated.

For example:

I am looking for my keys.

Not:

I am looking my keys for.

Similarly:

She looks after her brother.

Not:

She looks her brother after.

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One Phrasal Verb Can Have More Than One Meaning

This is extremely important.

A phrasal verb does not always have only one meaning.

Consider take off.

Meaning 1: Remove clothing

Take off your jacket.

Meaning 2: An aircraft leaves the ground

The plane took off at 9 a.m.

Another example is pick up.

It can mean to lift something:

Pick up the pencil.

It can also mean to collect someone:

Dad will pick me up from school.

Context tells us which meaning is intended.

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Phrasal Verbs vs Single-Word Verbs

Many phrasal verbs have single-word alternatives.

Phrasal Verb	Possible Single-Word Alternative
Find out	Discover
Give up	Quit
Put off	Postpone
Carry on	Continue
Look into	Investigate
Point out	Indicate
Call off	Cancel
Set up	Establish
Get rid of	Remove
Put up with	Tolerate
Turn down	Reject
Bring up	Mention

The alternatives are not interchangeable in every context, but learning these pairs can improve vocabulary.

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Phrasal Verbs in Real-Life Conversations

Understanding phrasal verbs becomes much easier when we see them in context.

Conversation 1: In the Classroom

Teacher: Please sit down and take out your science notebooks.

Student: Should we write down today’s questions?

Teacher: Yes. After that, look up any difficult words and hand in your notebooks before you leave.

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Conversation 2: Before an Exam

Aarav: I have fallen behind in maths.

Meera: Don’t give up. You can still catch up.

Aarav: I can’t figure out algebra.

Meera: Let’s go over it together.

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Conversation 3: After School

Rahul: Do you want to hang out after school?

Priya: I can’t today. I have to look after my younger brother.

Rahul: That’s okay. We can put off our plan until Saturday.

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Conversation 4: Science Project

Teacher: Have you come up with an idea for your project?

Student: Yes. We want to set up an experiment about water filtration.

Teacher: Excellent. Carry on with your research and write down your observations.

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Common Phrasal Verbs with LOOK

The verb look produces many useful combinations.

Phrasal Verb	Meaning
Look after	Take care of
Look around	Explore
Look back	Think about the past
Look for	Search
Look forward to	Anticipate with pleasure
Look into	Investigate
Look out	Be careful
Look over	Examine
Look up	Search for information
Look up to	Admire

Example

I look up to my science teacher because she makes difficult concepts easy to understand.

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Common Phrasal Verbs with GET

Phrasal Verb	Meaning
Get along	Have a good relationship
Get away	Escape or leave
Get back	Return
Get in	Enter
Get off	Leave transport
Get on	Enter transport
Get out	Leave
Get over	Recover
Get through	Finish successfully
Get up	Leave bed

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Common Phrasal Verbs with TAKE

Phrasal Verb	Meaning
Take after	Resemble
Take away	Remove
Take back	Return
Take down	Remove/write
Take off	Remove/depart
Take on	Accept responsibility
Take out	Remove
Take over	Assume control
Take up	Begin
Take apart	Separate into pieces

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Common Phrasal Verbs with PUT

Phrasal Verb	Meaning
Put away	Store
Put back	Return
Put down	Place
Put off	Postpone
Put on	Wear
Put out	Extinguish
Put together	Assemble
Put up	Display
Put up with	Tolerate
Put forward	Suggest

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Common Phrasal Verbs with GIVE

Phrasal Verb	Meaning
Give away	Donate
Give back	Return
Give in	Stop resisting
Give out	Distribute
Give up	Stop trying
Give off	Produce/release
Give in to	Yield to
Give up on	Stop believing in
Give over	Transfer control
Give away	Reveal unintentionally

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How to Learn Phrasal Verbs Easily

Trying to memorise 170 expressions in one sitting is not a good strategy.

Instead, use these methods.

Learn 5 Phrasal Verbs at a Time

Suppose today’s five expressions are:

give up

look after

find out

put off

carry on

Create one sentence for each.

Tomorrow, review those five before learning another five.

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Learn Phrasal Verbs by Topic

Instead of memorising them alphabetically, group them by situations.

For example:

School

hand in
write down
look up
go over
catch up

Travel

set off
get on
get off
take off
come back

Friends

hang out
get along
make up
fall out
cheer up

This creates associations that can make them easier to remember.

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Learn Phrasal Verbs Inside Sentences

Don’t memorise:

put off = postpone

Memorise:

Don’t put off your homework until tomorrow.

Now you know both the meaning and the natural usage.

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Phrasal Verbs Practice Exercise

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Frequently Asked Questions About Phrasal Verbs

What is a phrasal verbs for students?

A phrasal verb is a multi-word verb formed by combining a verb with one or more particles. The combination functions together as a verb and may have a meaning different from the base verb.

What are 10 common phrasal verbs for students?

Ten useful examples are:

1. Wake up
2. Get up
3. Give up
4. Look after
5. Look for
6. Look up
7. Find out
8. Hand in
9. Write down
10. Carry on

What are some phrasal verbs for students used at school?

Common school-related phrasal verbs include hand in, write down, look up, find out, go over, read over, catch up, fall behind, fill in, cross out, and work out.

How can students remember phrasal verbs?

Learn a small number at a time and use each one in a complete sentence. Grouping them by topic or base verb can also make revision easier.

Can a phrasal verb have more than one meaning?

Yes.

For example, take off can mean removing clothing or an aircraft leaving the ground.

The intended meaning depends on context.

Are all phrasal verbs informal?

No.

Many are common in neutral everyday English, while others are more informal. In very formal or academic contexts, writers may sometimes prefer a single-word alternative such as postpone instead of put off or investigate instead of look into.

What is the difference between a verb and a phrasal verb?

A verb can consist of one word, such as look, give, or take.

A phrasal verb contains a verb plus one or more particles and functions as a unit, such as look after, give up, or take off.

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Quick Revision Chart

Phrasal Verb	Meaning
Break down	Stop working
Bring up	Mention
Call off	Cancel
Carry on	Continue
Catch up	Reach the same level
Come across	Find unexpectedly
Figure out	Understand
Find out	Discover
Get along	Have a good relationship
Get up	Leave bed
Give up	Stop trying
Grow up	Become an adult
Hand in	Submit
Hang out	Spend time socially
Look after	Take care of
Look for	Search
Look up	Search for information
Pick up	Lift/collect
Put away	Store
Put off	Postpone
Put on	Wear
Run out of	Have none left
Set up	Arrange/establish
Take off	Remove/depart
Turn off	Deactivate
Turn on	Activate
Wake up	Stop sleeping
Work out	Solve
Write down	Record
Look forward to	Anticipate with pleasure

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Final Thoughts

Phrasal verbs are an important part of everyday English, and students do not need to learn hundreds of them overnight.

Start with the expressions you are most likely to use.

Learn five phrasal verbs at a time, understand their meanings, read them in context, and create your own sentences.

For example:

Wake up → I wake up at 6 a.m.

Look up → I looked up the word in a dictionary.

Hand in → I handed in my homework.

Find out → We found out the answer.

Give up → Never give up when learning something new.

Once these become familiar, move on to another group.

The goal is not simply to memorise a long list of phrasal verbs. The goal is to understand them and use them correctly in real sentences.

With regular practice, expressions such as find out, carry on, look after, figure out, come across, put off, catch up, and work out will gradually become a natural part of your English.