100 Phrasal Verbs for Everyday Use

Hello English learners. Welcome to a new lesson. Native English speakers use phrasal verbs constantly in both casual and formal settings, so mastering phrasal verbs can help you sound more like a native speaker. In today’s lesson, we will look at 100 phrasal verbs for everyday use.

General daily use

Phrasal verb	Meaning	Example sentence
Get up	get out of bed	She gets up as soon as her alarm rings.
Wake up	stop sleeping	I wake up at 7 every morning.
Put on	wear (clothing)	He put on his jacket before leaving.
Take off	remove (clothing)	She took off her shoes at the door.
Turn on	start a device	Can you turn on the kettle?
Turn off	stop a device	Don’t forget to turn off the lights.
Set off	start a journey	We set off early to avoid traffic.
Come back	return	He came back from work late.
Go out	leave home for social reasons	They’re going out for dinner.
Stay in	remain at home	Let’s stay in and watch a film.

Communication

Phrasal verb	Meaning	Example sentence
Speak up	talk louder	Please speak up; I can’t hear you.
Pipe down	be quiet (informal)	Pipe down! The baby’s sleeping.
Chat up	flirt or talk to romantically	He was trying to chat her up at the bar.
Go on	continue	Go on, I’m listening.
Hang up	end a phone call	She hung up before I could reply.
Get through (to)	reach by phone	I finally got through to the doctor.
Ring up	call someone	I’ll ring you up later.
Drop by	visit informally	She dropped by for a quick chat.
Pop in	make a short visit	I just popped in to say hello.
Catch up (with)	update one another	Let’s catch up over coffee.

Work & study

Phrasal verb	Meaning	Example sentence
Look into	investigate	They’re looking into the complaint.
Fill in	complete (a form)	Please fill in the form.
Hand in	submit	I handed in my essay on time.
Take on	accept (responsibility/work)	She’s taken on more than she can handle.
Get ahead	make progress	He’s getting ahead at work.
Knuckle down	start working hard	You’d better knuckle down before exams.
Catch on	understand	It took a while, but he caught on.
Drop out	leave (school, course)	He dropped out of university.
Go over	review	Let’s go over your notes.
Brush up (on)	improve a skill	I need to brush up on my Spanish.

Travel

Phrasal verb	Meaning	Example sentence
Get on	board a vehicle	He got on the bus.
Get off	leave a vehicle	She got off at the next stop.
Check in	register at a hotel/airport	We checked in at 3 p.m.
Check out	leave a hotel	They checked out this morning.
Take off	plane leaving the ground	Our flight takes off at 9.
Touch down	plane landing	We touched down ahead of schedule.
Hold up	delay	We were held up by traffic.
Set out	start a journey	They set out at dawn.
Pick up	collect someone by car	Can you pick me up at the station?
Drop off	leave someone at a place	I’ll drop you off at school.

Relationships

Phrasal verb	Meaning	Example sentence
Get along (with)	be friendly	They get along really well.
Fall out (with)	argue and stop being friends	They fell out over money.
Make up	reconcile	They made up after the fight.
Split up	end a romantic relationship	They split up last year.
Go out (with)	be in a romantic relationship	She’s going out with Tom.
Ask out	invite on a date	He asked her out to dinner.
Break up	end a relationship	They broke up after five years.
Hit it off	get along immediately	They hit it off on the first date.
Grow apart	become less close	They grew apart over time.
Move in (with)	start living together	They moved in together last month.

Money & shopping

Phrasal verb	Meaning	Example sentence
Pay back	return borrowed money	I’ll pay you back next week.
Save up (for)	accumulate money	She’s saving up for a new car.
Splash out (on)	spend a lot on something nice	We splashed out on a fancy dinner.
Rip off	charge too much	£10 for coffee? What a rip-off!
Shop around	compare prices	Always shop around before buying.
Fork out (for)	reluctantly pay	I had to fork out £200 for repairs.
Sell out	have no more of something	The tickets sold out in minutes.
Pick out	choose	She picked out a lovely scarf.
Try on	test clothing for fit	Try on this dress and see if it fits.
Pop out	go out briefly	I’m just popping out to the shops.

Home life

Phrasal verb	Meaning	Example sentence
Clean up	tidy or clean thoroughly	We cleaned up after the party.
Clear out	get rid of things	I cleared out the garage.
Sort out	organise or fix	We need to sort out the bills.
Throw away	discard	She threw away old magazines.
Put away	return to proper place	Put away your clothes, please.
Hang up	put clothes on a hanger	He hung up his coat.
Warm up	make warmer	Let’s warm up some leftovers.
Cool down	become cooler	Let it cool down before eating.
Look after	care for	Can you look after the cat?
Drop round	visit someone casually	I’ll drop round later with the cake.

Emotions & reactions

Phrasal verb	Meaning	Example sentence
Calm down	become calmer	Take a breath and calm down.
Cheer up	become happier	Cheer up, it’s not that bad.
Let down	disappoint	He let me down again.
Get over	recover from	She’s getting over a bad cold.
Hold back	hide emotions	He held back his tears.
Blow up	lose temper	She blew up over nothing.
Go off	stop liking	I’ve gone off that band lately.
Put off	discourage	The smell put me off eating.
Open up	share feelings	He finally opened up to me.
Bottle up	hide emotions	Don’t bottle up your feelings.

Problem solving

Phrasal verbs	Meaning	Example sentence
Work out	find a solution	We’ll work it out together.
Figure out	understand	I can’t figure out this puzzle.
Back up	support	I’ll back you up if needed.
Carry on	continue	Carry on with your work.
Give up	stop trying	Don’t give up just yet.
Run out (of)	use all of something	We’ve run out of milk.
Come up with	think of (an idea)	She came up with a brilliant plan.
Deal with	handle a problem	I’ll deal with it tomorrow.
Hold on	wait a moment	Hold on, I’m coming.
Catch up (on)	do something not done earlier	I need to catch up on sleep.

Social & everyday use

Phrasal verbs	Meaning	Example sentence
Join in	participate	Why don’t you join in the game?
Show up	arrive	He showed up late.
Turn up	arrive unexpectedly	She turned up at my door.
Look out	be careful	Look out – the pavement’s icy!
Come in	enter	Please come in and sit down.
Go off	explode or make a noise	The alarm went off at 6.
Give in	surrender or yield	She gave in to temptation.
Stand up for	defend someone/something	He stood up for his beliefs.
Look forward to	be excited about something	I’m looking forward to the weekend.
Go over	be well received	The joke didn’t go over well.

100 Phrasal Verbs for Everyday Use – download PDF here

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100 Phrasal Verbs for Everyday Use

Published by My Lingua Academy on 12 Jun 202512 Jun 2025