English Collocations and Natural Word Partners
A free collocations reference for English learners. Search a common word and see the verbs and adjectives that naturally go with it — you "make" a decision, not "do" one; tea is "strong", not "powerful". Each set is grouped by pattern and shown with an example sentence.
How to use it
Type a noun or other common word you want to use well.
Read the verbs and adjectives that naturally combine with it.
Each group shows a sentence so you see the collocation in use.
Look up the natural word partners of any common word
Features
What you can do
- Find which verbs go with a noun — make, take, reach a decision
- Find which adjectives go with a noun — a difficult, final, wise decision
- See each collocation in a natural example sentence
- Browse a curated list of words learners most often need to use well
- Avoid the wrong-but-grammatical combinations that mark non-native English
Why collocations make English sound natural
Grammar tells you a sentence is allowed; collocation tells you it is what a native speaker would actually say. "Do a decision" breaks no grammar rule, but it is wrong — the verb is "make". Learners reach intermediate level with plenty of vocabulary and still sound non-native, and collocation is usually the reason: the individual words are right, but the combinations are not. A dictionary defines words one at a time and rarely shows which partners they prefer. This tool does the opposite — it starts from a word and lays out the company it keeps, grouped by pattern so you can see, for example, every strong verb that takes "decision" as its object, with a sentence for each.
Frequently asked questions
What is a collocation?
A collocation is a pair or group of words that habitually go together — "heavy rain", "make an effort", "pay attention". The combination sounds natural to native speakers even though another word might mean the same thing.
How are the collocations grouped?
By grammatical pattern — for example "verb + noun" (make a decision) or "adjective + noun" (a difficult decision) — so you can find exactly the kind of partner you need.
What is in the list, and what has been deliberately left out?
In: the words where learners reliably pick the wrong partner — make/do, heavy/strong, commit/make, and the couple of hundred others that show up in corrected essays again and again. Out: everything a full collocations dictionary carries that you would look up once and never need again, and everything where the wrong choice is merely unusual rather than wrong. That is the trade: a shorter list you can actually finish, chosen by how often the mistake happens rather than by how many combinations exist. If you need exhaustive coverage for translation or lexicography, use a proper collocations dictionary — this is a drill, not a reference.
Why not just learn single words?
Because knowing a word is not the same as knowing how to use it. Native fluency comes from storing words together with their usual partners, not one by one.
Can a word have several patterns?
Yes. Most words appear with more than one pattern — "decision" takes verbs (make a decision) and adjectives (a wise decision) — and each is shown as a separate group.
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