Collocations with the word money

Updated on January 10, 2020

An important step to improving your English vocabulary is to not only learn the appropriate terms but to learn the words that commonly go together with those terms. These word combinations are often, adjective + noun, verb + noun, and noun + verb pairs. Each of these collocation sheets provide collocations for commonly used words arranged into categories. Each collocation is illustrated with an example sentence.

Adjectives + «Money»

The following list includes adjectives that are commonly used with the noun ‘money’. Adjectives that are similar in meaning are grouped together. Each adjective or adjective group has an example sentence to illustrate usage.

• easy
  He thinks working in marketing is easy money. I think he’ll find it’s quite a different story.
• bonus, extra
  If you complete the project before next Tuesday, there’ll be some bonus money.
• hard-earned
  The best way to feel good about any purchase is if it’s been made with hard-earned money.
• government, public, taxpayers’
  It’s not right to waste taxpayers’ money on projects that benefit those who are already wealthy.
• pocket, spending
  Would you like a little extra pocket money this weekend?
• gas, lunch, petrol, rent, etc
  Could you lend me some lunch money today?
• prize, grant, scholarship
  They won a lot of grant money for their research into DNA.
• stolen, dirty, bribe, ransom
  I don’t want your dirty money!
• hush, protection
  That gang is demanding protection money from every store on the street. It’s scandalous!
• pension, retirement
  We plan to move to Hawaii with our retirement money.
• counterfeit, fake
  The police discovered more than $2 million in fake money.

Verb + «Money»

The following list includes verbs that are commonly followed by the noun ‘money’ or an amount of a particular type of money or currency. Verbs that are similar in meaning are grouped together. Each verb or verb group has an example sentence to illustrate usage.

• coin, print
  The government printed a lot of money in 2001.
• count
  Let’s count your money and see if you have enough to buy that.
• bring in, earn, make,
  The company brought in more than $4 million.
• borrow
  Could I borrow some money for this weekend?
• lend
  I’ll lend you some money until next month.
• bank, deposit, pay in, pay into the bank, put in the bank
  I deposited a large amount of money last Friday.
• draw out, get out, take out, withdraw
  She took $500 out of our account.
• pay out, shell out, spend
  They paid out more than $300 dollars for that lamp.
• fritter away, squander, throw away
  I hate it when you squander our savings!
• hoard, save, set aside, stash away
  They set aside $200 each week for savings.
• contribute, donate, give
  They donated more than $200,000 to charity last year.
• give back, pay back, refund, repay
  I’ll pay you back the money by the end of next week.
• owe
  She owes Thomas a lot of money.
• share
  Let’s share the money we’ve found!
• accept, take
  I’m afraid I can’t accept your money.
• be worth
  That painting is worth a lot of money.
• change, exchange
  I’d like to change twenty dollars, please. Could you give me four five dollar bills?
• allocate, earmark
  The committee decided to allocate $50,000 for the project.
• channel, direct, funnel
  The program directs more than $5 billion to help the homeless.
• embezzle, extort, siphon off, steal
  He was charged with embezzling money from the company.
• launder
  They used the internet to launder the stolen money.

«Money» + Verb

The following list includes verbs that commonly follow the noun ‘money’. Verbs that are similar in meaning are grouped together. Each verb or verb group has an example sentence to illustrate usage.

• come from something
  Money for the exhibit comes from donations to the museum.
• go to something
  The money goes to research.
• come in, flow in, pour in
  The money just kept pouring in! It was amazing!
• buy something
  Who says that money can’t buy happiness?

«Money» + Noun

The following list includes nouns that commonly follow the noun ‘money’. Nouns that are similar in meaning are grouped together. Each noun or noun group has an example sentence to illustrate usage.

• management, manager
  I think you should hire a money manager for your savings.
• supply
  The money supply is very tight at the moment.
• order
  You can pay by money order.

Phrases With «Money»

The following list includes phrases made with the noun ‘money’. Each phrase has an example sentence to illustrate usage.

• bet money on something
  Let’s bet $400 dollars on the race.
• get money off something
  Ask if you can get some money off the display model.
• get your money’s worth
  Make sure to spend the whole day at the park to get your money’s worth.
• on the money
  Your prediction was on the money!
• the smart money is on
  The smart money is on Tom for the director’s position.
• throw money at something
  Don’t just throw money at the project. Make sure you demand results.
• throw your money around
  Peter throws his money around like it meant nothing.