Phrasal verbs with TAKE: 12 essential ones with examples
A2–B212 words
Take shifts meaning completely depending on the particle that follows it: a plane takes off, a hobby is taken up, a company is taken over. Learn the twelve below as separate words, because that is what they are.
Where you will use it: Conversation, work English and news.
Phrasal verbs with TAKE — The word list
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| take off | To leave the ground, or to remove clothing.“The plane takes off at noon.” |
| take up | To start a new activity.“She took up painting.” |
| take over | To gain control of something.“A larger firm took over the company.” |
| take after | To resemble a family member.“He takes after his father.” |
| take back | To return something, or withdraw a statement.“I take back what I said.” |
| take on | To accept work or responsibility.“We took on two new clients.” |
| take out | To remove, or to bring someone somewhere.“He took out his phone.” |
| take in | To understand or absorb information.“It was a lot to take in.” |
| take apart | To separate into pieces.“He took the radio apart.” |
| take down | To write something, or remove it.“Take down my number.” |
| take part in | To join an activity.“She took part in the study.” |
| take care of | To look after, or to handle.“I'll take care of the booking.” |
How to study this list
Add five or six of these words a day rather than all twelve at once, keep the example sentence on the card, and review them when they come due. WordNest schedules each word across seven growing intervals — same day, then 1, 3, 7, 14, 30 and 60 days — so the list is still with you months later. Read how spaced repetition works if you want the reasoning behind those numbers.
Studying phrasal verbs with take pairs well with our phrasal verbs with get, essential phrasal verbs list and business English vocabulary, or browse all free English word lists.
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