Phrasal Verbs That Change Meaning by Particle
CEFR B1-B2 • Phrasal Verbs • How "look up," "look down on," and "look into" all start the same and end completely differently
One verb, many meanings — driven by the particle
"Look up" means to search for information. "Look down on" means to consider inferior. "Look into" means to investigate. "Look after" means to take care of. Same verb, four completely different meanings — distinguished by one or two short particles. This is the trickiest part of English phrasal verbs for non-native speakers. This page covers the 8 verbs that take the most particles, with side-by-side comparisons.
"Look" + particle (5 different meanings)
| Phrasal | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| look up | search for information | "Look up the address before you go." |
| look up to | admire / respect | "I look up to my mentor at Stripe." |
| look down on | consider inferior | "Some senior engineers look down on Java." |
| look into | investigate | "I will look into the bug today." |
| look after | take care of | "Aiyana looks after the data team." |
| look out for | watch carefully for | "Look out for spam in your inbox today." |
| look forward to | anticipate with pleasure | "I look forward to your reply." |
| look over | review briefly | "Could you look over the proposal before I send it?" |
Hear the difference
"Could you look up the meeting room? I forget which floor."
"I really look up to Marina — she handles pressure better than anyone."
"He looks down on early-stage startups — bad attitude for a VC."
"Sandeep is looking into the failed deploy — should have answers by tomorrow."
"I look forward to our call tomorrow at 10."
"Take" + particle (6 different meanings)
| Phrasal | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| take up | begin a hobby / consume time | "I took up running last year." |
| take on | accept responsibility | "She took on the migration project." |
| take over | assume control from someone | "Carlos is taking over the team." |
| take out | remove | "Take out the chart on slide 5." |
| take in | absorb / understand | "This is a lot to take in — let me come back to it." |
| take to | begin to like / become accustomed to | "She took to remote work right away." |
"Get" + particle (6 different meanings)
| Phrasal | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| get up | leave the bed | "I get up at 7." |
| get up to | be doing (often mischievous) | "What are you getting up to this weekend?" |
| get on | enter a vehicle / make progress | "Get on the train at platform 4." |
| get on with | have a good relationship with | "I get on well with my new manager." |
| get over | recover from | "It took a week to get over the layoff news." |
| get away with | escape consequences | "We cannot get away with skipping the security review." |
"Run" + particle (5 meanings)
| Phrasal | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| run into | encounter unexpectedly | "I ran into Sandeep at the conference." |
| run out of | exhaust supply of | "We ran out of budget for Q4 hiring." |
| run through | review or rehearse quickly | "Let us run through the slides one more time." |
| run down | deplete energy or supply | "My laptop is running down — switching to backup." |
| run by | show informally for feedback | "Can I run something by you for 5 minutes?" |
"Bring" + particle (5 meanings)
| Phrasal | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| bring up | raise a topic | "I will bring it up in the next standup." |
| bring in | introduce or recruit | "We brought in Marina from the EU team." |
| bring on | cause | "The reorg brought on a wave of resignations." |
| bring about | cause (formal) | "The new policy brought about a 30% reduction in errors." |
| bring forward | move earlier in time | "Can we bring the launch forward by a week?" |
"Set" + particle (4 meanings)
| Phrasal | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| set up | arrange or establish | "I set up the meeting for Tuesday." |
| set out | begin a journey or task | "We set out to redesign the auth flow last quarter." |
| set off | trigger or depart | "His comment set off a heated debate." |
| set back | delay | "The bug set us back two weeks." |
"Turn" + particle (5 meanings)
| Phrasal | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| turn on / turn off | activate / deactivate | "Turn on the laptop." |
| turn down | refuse | "They turned down our offer." |
| turn up | arrive (often unexpectedly) | "He turned up at the office without notice." |
| turn in | submit (a report) | "Turn in the timesheet by Friday." |
| turn into | become | "The project turned into a year-long effort." |
Ambiguity test: identify the meaning
1. "I will look into it tomorrow."
Investigate. ("Look into" = look into the matter, dig deeper.)
2. "I will look up to her if she pulls this off."
Admire/respect. ("Look up to" = consider as a role model.)
3. "I look forward to our meeting Tuesday."
Anticipate with pleasure. ("Look forward to" = excitedly await.)
4. "We took on three new clients this quarter."
Accepted responsibility for. ("Took on" = added to your portfolio.)
5. "Marina is taking over from Aiyana next sprint."
Replacing/succeeding. ("Took over" = stepped into the role from someone else.)
Common confusions
- "Look up" vs "look up to": "Look up" = search information ("Look up the address"). "Look up to" = admire ("I look up to her"). The "to" matters.
- "Take on" vs "take over": "Take on" = accept new responsibility (still vacant). "Take over" = replace someone (someone else had it before).
- "Get up" vs "get up to": "Get up" = leave bed. "Get up to" = be doing ("What are you getting up to this weekend?").
- "Run into" vs "run through": "Run into" = encounter ("I ran into Marina at the conference"). "Run through" = review quickly ("Let us run through the slides").
- "Turn down" vs "turn off": "Turn down" = refuse ("They turned down our offer"). "Turn off" = deactivate ("Turn off the laptop").
Practice: Test yourself
Tap each question to reveal the answer.