Collocations in English: Meaning, Types, and Examples for Natural Language Use

Learning English goes beyond memorizing words and grammar rules. To sound fluent and natural, you need to know how words commonly appear together. For example, native speakers say “make a decision” rather than “do a decision,” and “heavy rain” instead of “strong rain.” These natural word pairings are known as collocations.

In this guide, you’ll learn what collocations in English are, explore the main types of collocations, and see plenty of collocation examples that show how native speakers combine words naturally.

What Is a Collocation?

A collocation is a natural combination of words that frequently appear together in English. These pairings sound “right” to native speakers because they often occur in daily communication. When you use the correct collocation, your English sounds smooth and natural; when you don’t, it can feel awkward or unusual.

For example:

• strong coffee (✅ natural)
• powerful coffee (❌ unnatural)
• catch a cold (✅ natural)
• get a cold (❌ less natural in this sense)

Collocations can be short, like take care or fast food, or longer phrases such as raise an issue or keep in touch. The words in a collocation work well together, creating expressions that fluent speakers use naturally in everyday English.

In simple terms, a collocation is a word partnership—a combination that feels natural and familiar to native speakers because it’s used repeatedly in real contexts.

Why Collocations Matter in English

Collocations are more than just word pairings—they’re what make English sound natural and fluent. Native speakers use them without thinking because they’ve heard and read them thousands of times. For learners, understanding collocations is a practical way to move from “grammatically correct” to naturally expressive English.

Here’s why collocations are worth learning:

They make your English sound natural

Phrases like take responsibility or highly recommended sound authentic because they match the patterns native speakers use. In contrast, alternatives like accept responsibility for or strongly suggested may sound slightly off, even if they’re grammatically correct.

They improve fluency and comprehension

When you recognize common collocations such as make progress or break the news, you process them faster in listening and reading. You understand whole chunks of meaning instead of analyzing each word separately.

They strengthen writing and speaking

Writers and speakers who use accurate collocations—like reach an agreement or run a business—sound more confident and professional. Collocations give your language rhythm and precision.

They help you avoid unnatural phrasing

Learners often translate word for word from their native language. That’s how errors like “discuss about the topic” or “do an effort” happen. Learning collocations helps you avoid these patterns and use combinations that feel authentic to English speakers.

Common Collocation Patterns & Examples

Collocations follow clear patterns in English. Each pattern shows how certain parts of speech naturally work together. Understanding the types of collocation helps you recognize these patterns and choose word combinations that sound natural and fluent in everyday communication.

Verb + Noun Collocations

These collocations are among the most frequent in English. The verb and noun often act as a fixed pair that expresses one clear idea.

Examples:

• draw attention
• deliver results
• raise questions
• catch someone’s attention
• file a complaint

These pairings occur so often that native speakers rarely use alternatives. For instance, deliver results sounds natural, while give results feels awkward.

Adjective + Noun Collocations

Certain adjectives consistently appear with specific nouns. These combinations make your descriptions sound more natural and precise.

Examples:

• rapid growth
• strong foundation
• mutual respect
• bright future
• serious issue

Using the correct adjective-noun collocation can make your writing clearer and more professional.

Noun + Noun Collocations

When two nouns appear together, they usually describe a single concept or object. These are common in both everyday and formal English.

Examples:

• safety regulations
• communication skills
• energy source
• company policy
• market trends

You’ll find these collocations frequently in news articles, business writing, and academic texts.

Adverb + Adjective Collocations

In these pairs, the adverb strengthens or adjusts the meaning of the adjective.

Examples:

• fully aware
• deeply grateful
• highly unlikely
• perfectly balanced
• utterly convinced

These combinations create a natural rhythm in speech and make descriptions sound authentic.

Verb + Preposition Collocations

Some verbs always require a specific preposition to make sense. They form a fixed expression that should be learned together.

Examples:

• rely on
• insist on
• deal with
• look after
• succeed in

For instance, native speakers say rely on someone—not rely to or rely at.

Adverb + Verb Collocations

Adverbs often modify verbs to show the degree, manner, or frequency of an action.

Examples:

• firmly believe
• clearly understand
• quickly respond
• barely manage
• willingly accept

Using these patterns gives your writing a smoother, more natural flow.

“Make,” “Do,” “Take,” and “Have” Collocations

These four verbs appear in many fixed expressions that English learners often confuse. Learning their common pairings is especially helpful for daily conversation.

Examples:

• make a choice
• do research
• take notes
• have a discussion
• make progress
• take responsibility
• do business
• have breakfast

Each of these verbs combines naturally with certain nouns and not others, so it’s best to learn them as phrases rather than single words.

Collocations in Academic and Formal English

In academic and professional writing, collocations play a vital role in making your sentences precise and credible. Native speakers and proficient writers use certain word combinations regularly, especially in essays, reports, and research papers. These are known as academic collocations.

An academic collocation is a word pairing or phrase that frequently appears in formal or academic contexts—for example, conduct research or draw a conclusion. Using these expressions correctly helps your writing sound clear and natural without being overly complex.

Common Academic Collocations

Here are a few collocations that often appear in academic writing:

• reach a conclusion
• provide evidence
• conduct a study
• pose a question
• analyze data
• present findings
• establish a connection
• play a role
• contribute to knowledge
• achieve accuracy

Each of these phrases reflects standard academic usage. For instance, writers typically say conduct research, not do research, in formal contexts because it sounds more precise and scholarly.

Collocations for Reports and Essays

Certain collocations appear frequently in essays, reports, and analytical writing:

• take into account
• lead to improvement
• make an observation
• put forward an argument
• highlight a difference
• offer an explanation

Using expressions like these adds fluency and balance to your writing while maintaining a formal tone.

Collocations from the Academic Collocation List (ACL)

The Academic Collocation List (ACL) is a collection of over 2,400 word combinations commonly used in academic English. It was developed to help learners recognize and use collocations that appear across subjects such as science, business, and social studies.

Examples from the ACL include:

• consistent pattern
• significant effect
• highly accurate
• previous research
• effective strategy

You don’t need to memorize all of them, but learning frequently used collocations can greatly improve your academic writing and help you meet university or test standards.

How Native Speakers Decide Collocations (Corpus and Frequency Evidence)

Collocations are not memorized rules; they’re patterns that develop from how English is used every day. Native speakers don’t consciously choose between make a mistake and do a mistake—their choice feels natural because of repeated exposure. These patterns are formed through frequency and habit, and linguists study them using tools called language corpora.

A corpus (plural: corpora) is a large digital collection of real English texts—from books, news, conversations, and websites. By analyzing corpora such as the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA) or the British National Corpus (BNC), you can see which word combinations occur most often together.

For example:

• The expression draw attention appears far more often than attract attention in informal writing, making it the more natural choice in everyday use.
• Fast food occurs thousands of times more than quick food, which explains why the latter sounds unusual even though it’s grammatically correct.
• Pay respect is found more frequently than show respect in formal contexts, showing how usage can vary depending on the setting.

In both British and American corpora, make an effort consistently appears more often than do an effort, confirming that frequency shapes what sounds natural.

Why Frequency Matters for Learners

Learning collocations based on frequency helps you sound authentic faster. Instead of memorizing long word lists, focus on noticing which combinations you encounter most often in reading, podcasts, or movies.
For example:

• When you repeatedly see take notes or keep a promise in real contexts, your brain starts to recognize them as fixed units.
• Over time, these natural patterns replace literal translations from your native language.

Using Corpus-Based Tools

Learners can explore collocations directly through free or educational corpus tools, such as:

• COCA (Corpus of Contemporary American English) – for American usage
• BNC (British National Corpus) – for British usage
• Just The Word – to explore collocation patterns visually
• SkELL (Sketch Engine for Language Learning) – designed for ESL learners

These tools show how often words appear together and in what context, helping you verify whether a phrase like make progress or do progress is the natural choice.

Common Mistakes and Collocation Pitfalls

Even advanced learners sometimes struggle with collocations because they often translate directly from their native language or combine words that don’t naturally go together in English. These small errors can make your sentences sound unnatural, even if they’re grammatically correct.

Here are some of the most common collocation issues and how to fix them.

Using the Wrong Verb

Learners often choose verbs that seem logical but don’t form natural English expressions.

✔ Correct: take notes
❌ Incorrect: write notes

✔ Correct: make progress
❌ Incorrect: do progress

✔ Correct: give advice
❌ Incorrect: offer advices

These mistakes happen because English uses certain verbs habitually with specific nouns, even when another verb might seem to make sense.

Mixing Up Adjectives

Some adjectives simply don’t fit with certain nouns, even though their meanings are close.

✔ Correct: strong argument
❌ Incorrect: powerful argument

✔ Correct: heavy traffic
❌ Incorrect: strong traffic

✔ Correct: deep concern
❌ Incorrect: big concern

When in doubt, check examples of how native speakers use these phrases in real writing or speech.

Translating Literally

Direct translation from another language can lead to collocations that don’t exist in English.

✔ Correct: catch a cold
❌ Incorrect: take a cold

✔ Correct: keep in touch
❌ Incorrect: stay in contact with each other (acceptable but not natural in casual English)

✔ Correct: pay attention
❌ Incorrect: give attention

Literal translation often produces expressions that are understandable but sound unusual to fluent speakers.

Overusing Common Collocations

Some learners repeat the same expressions—like very good or really nice—because they’re easy and familiar. Expanding your collocation range helps your language sound more natural.

Instead of: very good idea
Try: great idea or brilliant idea

Instead of: really bad weather
Try: terrible weather or awful weather

Variety shows a stronger grasp of vocabulary and improves the rhythm of your writing and speech.

Tips and Strategies to Learn Collocations

Learning collocations effectively isn’t about memorizing long lists of word pairs. It’s about developing a habit of noticing how words naturally appear together in communication. Here are some simple but powerful strategies that actually work.

Notice Collocations in Real Contexts

Every time you read an article, watch a show, or listen to a podcast, pay attention to how words combine.
If you hear take responsibility or set goals, pause for a second and notice the pairing. These small observations train your brain to recognize natural word combinations over time.

Tip: Keep a notebook or digital list where you record new collocations as you find them, along with one or two example sentences.

Learn in Chunks, Not Single Words

Native speakers don’t think in isolated words—they think in chunks. Instead of learning the word decision, learn make a decision as a unit.
When you store collocations this way, recalling them becomes automatic in writing and conversation.

Example:
Instead of memorizing opinion, learn express an opinion, form an opinion, and share an opinion as whole phrases.

Group Collocations by Theme or Function

Organizing collocations helps you remember them better. You can group them by topic (education, health, business) or by part of speech (verb + noun, adjective + noun).

Examples:
Work and study: meet deadlines, submit assignments, attend lectures
Daily life: catch a train, set an alarm, make dinner

When you organize by theme, you’re more likely to recall related phrases naturally.

Use Authentic Materials

Expose yourself to real English. Read articles from reliable news sources, listen to interviews, or watch short videos where native speakers talk casually.
Each medium gives you different types of collocations — formal ones from newspapers, conversational ones from shows or podcasts.

Example:
From news: address the issue, implement a plan
From casual talk: grab a bite, hang out with friends

Practice with Flashcards or Apps

Create flashcards with one word on one side and its common collocations on the other. Digital flashcard apps like Anki or Quizlet make it easy to review a few phrases every day.
Repetition is what helps collocations “stick” in your memory.

Use Collocations in Your Own Sentences

Writing your own examples is one of the most effective ways to learn. Don’t just read collocations — use them.
For example, if you’ve learned take initiative, write a short sentence like:
Maya decided to take initiative and start a recycling program at school.

Making your own examples forces you to use the phrase actively, not just recognize it passively.

Frequently Asked Questions about Collocations