Word pairs make your English more colloquial and conversational. (To see our first video on word pairs, click here.)
The technical term for these expressions is binomials and English is full of them! In this video you’ll learn:
– what some of them mean – the common patterns they follow – how to use them in action
We’ll show you phrases for things you’ll often find together like:
– soap and water – shoes and socks – shirt and tie – facts and figures
We’ll look at word pair opposites like:
– in and out – up and down – hit and miss – pros and cons
You’ll see examples of the most common type of English word pairs – words with similar meanings:
– this and that – front and centre – aches and pains – first and foremost – sick and tired – safe and sound
And we’ll also look at an interesting group of word pairs: words that rhyme, like:
– huffing and puffing – out and about – wear and tear
We know you love English word pairs.
They’re so common in English. If you’re going to improve your listening, you need them!
They’re colloquial and conversational and we use them all the time.
So here are lots more word pairs to expand your vocabulary
And this video has something special. You’re going to see my grandson!
Word pairs are set phrases. They’re two words joined with ‘and’ and English is full of them.
In this video, we’re looking at some different kinds of words that we often pair together.
And we’ll see if you can spot some patterns.
So let’s warm up with three easy ones.
Soap and…
Soap and water!
Yes. Shoes and …
Socks.
Shirt and …
Tie?
Yes.
Oh, OK.
So what’s the connection here?
It’s easy, huh? They’re all things you often find together.
Where there’s soap, there’s often water.
Where there’s a shirt, there’s often a tie, though not always!
Let’s try a harder one.
Facts and …
Oh I’m lost. What?
Facts and figures.
Oh facts and figures! OK.
So facts and figures are accurate, detailed information.
Exactly. So a company’s annual report would be filled with facts and figures.
I’m so excited to be here. It’s great to see you.
You too. So how did your team do this month, Jay?
Oh fantastic. This month was great!
So how did this month compare to last month.
Oh, that’s easy. Way better!
OK, but how many products did you sell?
Lots!
Jay. We need some fact and figures.
So facts and figures are things you often find together.
OK, now let’s look at a different type of word pair.
The kind of word connection is different.
Watch and see if you can work out what it is.
In and …
Out, in and out. For example we could say ‘he was in and out of jail for most of his life’.
Yeah, and then he’d go there regularly. Yes. So for example, when I’m working, Jay’s always coming in and out of my office. Disturbing me.
And then we have up and …
Up and down.
Yes. And what’s that?
The stock market has been up and down for the last month.
Yes, that’s a good example. And also people can feel up and down, can’t they? When they’re emotionally happy one minute and feeling a bit depressed the next.
We were up when we saw the curve was flattening in the corona virus and down when we realized it was going up again.
Yes. Hit and …
Miss. Hit and miss.
Yes, give me a sentence.
Making successful investments for me over the years has always been hit and miss.
Yes, it means in a way that’s not planned or organized. So things that are hit or miss are often unsuccessful.
Unfortunately.
So if we hit something we reach a target. And if we miss we fail to reach the target.
Now, here are the word pairs. In and out, up and down, hit and miss. What’s the connection here?
They’re all words with opposite meanings.
Some English word pairs are opposites. Here’s another example.
Pros and …
Cons. Pros and cons.
It’s the advantages and disadvantages of something.
Wouldn’t it be great if we all had company cars.
Management will never agree to that.
But have we ever made the business case?
The business case?
Yeah, where we set out the pros and cons and show them why it’s a good idea.
Really? Won’t it cost too much?
OK, so cost is a con. Cost. Now what about pros?
Oh well, I’d love to have a company car.
See that’s a pro. Happy employees.
No more lining up for the bus in the morning.
Another pro. It saves time.
I could listen to the radio while I’m driving to work.
Listen to news shows. Better informed employees.
Or music.
Or motivational recordings. Better informed and better motivated employees.
Wow, there are more pros than cons.
Yep. I’m sending this to your phone now. Now go and make the business case.
Me? Now?
Yeah, go on. You’ll do great. Off you go.
Pros and cons are opposites and that’s why we pair them together.
But other word pairs are different. Let’s look at another connection.
Watch some more examples and see if you can work out why we pair the words together.
This and …
That. This and that.
Yes. And it just means various things.
So what did you talk about?
Oh, this and that.
Yes.
Front and …
Front and center. Front and center.
Yes. And it means in the most important position. So erm…
Make that issue front and center at our next meeting.
Yes. Or, erm, the COVID crisis and race relations have both moved front and centre in the forthcoming election.
Aches and…
Pains.
OK, what’s the difference between an ache and a pain?
Oh, that’s interesting. A pain is what you have when a part of your body hurts, like a pain in your knee or your elbow.
OK, and an ache is a continuous pain.
Every morning I wake up with aches and pains.
Because you’re so old.
No, no. It’s because of all the exercise I do.
So we had, front and center, this and that, aches and pains. How is each pair connected here?
They have similar meanings.
They don’t have exactly the same meaning, but they’re very similar.
And word pairs like this are very common.
I think sometimes we do this because it adds emphasis to what we say. It exaggerates a bit.
First and …
Foremost. First and foremost. We can say that an individual is first and foremost in his profession.
Oh yes, and it emphasizes the fact that he’s the number one. The top of it.
Right. Or first and foremost in my speech, I want to point out that …
Yes, the most important thing in my speech is … First and foremost.
OK, another one. Each and …
Every, each and every.
Yes. And we use this when we mean, when we want to emphasize that we mean everyone or everything in a group.
We want to thank each and everyone of you for subscribing to our channel.
Yes. And if you haven’t subscribed yet, do it now!
One, two, three, four.
What are you doing?
I’m counting the paper clips.
But why?
Well, it’s part of my job. Every year I count the inventory.
So you count the paper clips?
Each and every paper clip, each and every year. Eight… Oh no. One, two, three.
You need to remember that a lot the words can have several different meanings, so it’s not always easy to spot what’s happening.
Let’s look at some words that you might think mean different things, but actually, sometimes their meanings can be similar.
Sick and…
Sick and tired.
Yes.
I’m sick and tired of the guy that they put in a management position at my company.
Yes, OK. So you’re angry and you’re complaining.
Exactly.
Yes, you’re feeling miserable about it.
I am, absolutely!
The word ‘sick’ often means ill or unwell.
But it can also mean bored and annoyed about something.
Hello. Hello? I am sick and tired of robo calls.
Me too.
Here’s another example. These words have a similar meaning that you might not know about.
Safe and …
Oh safe and sound.
Yes. Now ‘sound’ is interesting, because it can mean a noise, of course, but it doesn’t here. It means whole and healthy.
So safe and sound means safe and healthy – in one piece.
I arrived at my destination safe and sound.
Yes.
Phew! OK!
Have we heard from Tom yet?
No. Oh hi. Are you there yet?
Yeah, we’ve just walked in. Yes, we’re all home safe and sound.
And how was your flight?
Exhausting!
That was my grandson and his dad Tom, and his mum, Yana.
Tom and Yana are English teachers too, and Tom has a YouTube channel with his friend Sam.
I’m going to put the link to their channel here so you can check it out and subscribe.
Put it at the end of the video too.
OK. Now we have one more puzzle for you and it’s tricky.
There are some other types of words that we sometimes pair together.
This is a different type of connection. Can you work it out?
What about huffing? Huffing and …
Huffing and puffing.
Yes, what’s that?
It’s what happens to me when I climb up four flights of stairs to the deck.
Yeah. It’s when you get wheezy and you’re breathing heavily. And also you can huff and puff about doing something that you don’t want to do. So I could ask Jay to clear the table and there might be a lot of huffing and puffing.
I don’t like clearing the table.
Out and …
Out and about
We might say we’ve been out and about in Philadelphia talking to people.
OK, and it would mean travelling around. But we can also use it when somebody has been indoors because they’ve been ill and when they’re able to go outside again, we’d say …
They’re out and about.
Yes.
Wear and …
Where and when.
Oh.
That’s what we say when someone wants to make an appointment with you or set up a meeting. Where and when?
OK, but I was thinking of wear and ttttt…
Where and, and what?
Wear and tear.
Oh wear and tear! Oh, of course.
Can I throw these secateurs away, Jay?
No, I was going to sell them on ebay.
They’re old and rusty.
Oh it’s just a little wear and tear.
It’s damage to objects usually, that occurs just by use, over a period of time. Wear and tear.
OK, so we have huffing and puffing.
Out and about.
Wear and tear
What’s the connection here? It’s not just about meaning.
Think about the sounds. The words all rhyme.
So become a poet and try making some sentences with them.
Or with the other word pairs you’ve seen. Experiment with them in the comments. We love hearing from you.
Have we finished now?
Not really because there are so many useful expressions like this, but we can make another video.
Make sure you hit the notification bell so you don’t miss it.
Bye everyone.
See you soon. Bye-bye.
To see our first video on word pairs, click here.
Click here to see Tom and Sam’s YouTube channel.
up and down
start learning
going alternately up and down/variable
to and fro
start learning
going alternately
up and up
start learning
constantly increasing
ups and downs
start learning
troubles, complications, uncertainties
more and more
start learning
increasingly, more frequently
loads and loads
start learning
a lot
odds and ends
start learning
scraps, remnants
on and off
start learning
sometimes, infrequently
now and then
start learning
infrequently, periodically
from time to time
start learning
intermittently, ocassionally
out and about
start learning
well enough to come and go, especially after an illness
black and white
start learning
monochromatic picture, i.e. without colors
black or white
start learning
clear distinction, without any gradation
in black and white
start learning
written down or in print, therefore official
bits and pieces
start learning
things, elements
far and wide
start learning
for a great distance, over a large area
flora and fauna
start learning
plants and animals
give or take
start learning
approximately
plus or minus
start learning
approximately, nearly
more or less
start learning
approximately, roughly
peace and quiet
start learning
tranquillity and freedom from disturbance
pick and choose
start learning
select with great care
sick and tired
start learning
annoyed and tired by reason of excess
sooner or later
start learning
eventually, at some unspecified future time
song and dance
start learning
an elaborate story or effort to explain and justify something, or to deceive and mislead someone
then and there = there and then
start learning
at that precise time and place, on the spot
If you ever need a no-prep, effective, high-level thinking activity for vocabulary, this is the one.
In the Word Pairs vocabulary strategy, students evaluate the connections between pairs of words.
They determine if the words are the same, opposite, go together, or are unrelated.
Let’s look at how it works in a classroom.
? How Does the Word Pairs Strategy Work Exactly?
To use this strategy, the teacher selects words students will analyze.
Give them the words and have them analyze the relationship between the words, keeping in mind that there might be more than one.
The relationship choices are: the same, opposite, go together, and no relation.
This strategy, found in Steven Stahl’s book Word Power: What Every Educator Needs to Know about Teaching Vocabulary, is a low-prep, powerful tool for analyzing words.
You can have them do this by themselves, in pairs, or in small groups.
In the book, Stahl says that students should fill in a chart like the one here:
| Same | Opposite | Go Together | No Relation | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| lemon – apple | X | |||
| peninsula – lake | X | |||
| country – nation | X | |||
| acid – base | X |
The problem for me is that my students can often argue multiple points, so I like an additional column that says reasoning or notes. I also allow students to identify more than one relationship.
For example, in the table above, I listed acid-base as opposites, but they are both on the pH scale, so you could definitely argue they go together in that way.
If students want to put a word pair in more than one category, I have them chose a capital X for the category they think is the strongest relationship and a lower case x for the category think is secondary.
In the book, Stahl describes using this strategy with words they’ve been studying, and I think that’s great. However, you don’t need to try pick words because they don’t need to have an obvious connection.
Both finding and forcing relationships have power, so don’t get hung up on making sure that there’s a connection to be found. Your students will surprise you with the connections they find!
? Variations on the Word Pairs Strategy
The strategy Stahl describes is terrific.
I have created a number of variations of it that you can use, too.
- Have the entire class work on the same set of words or have them all work with different groups of words.
- Give them the words in pairs or let them select pairs of words from the set of words you’ve chosen.
- Create different categories for the sort, such as friends, neighbors, enemies, or unknown. The sky’s the limit with this one.
- Write words on popsicle sticks (either real or use some digital selection tool) and have a student draw two sticks and make the comparison. You can do this in teams, if you wish. This is really fun!
- Award certain pairs that are analyzed with particular perception, such as least likely connection, best analysis, most creative use of a word, etc.
- Let students take a group of pairs of words and create four categories to sort them into. (If you like this idea, be sure to check out the Harry Potter Sorting Hat Strategy.)
- Show word pairs on a screen instead of giving them a chart with the words already on it. That way, you can reuse a generic chart, either virtually or on paper.
? What are the Benefits of the Word Pairs Strategy?
The Word Pairs strategy is one of the strategies that supports what research tells us about multiple exposures to vocabulary words. We have to do these multiple exposures in many ways, so this is a great activity to have at the ready.
Stahl says the best part of the activity is the discussion with the entire class, and I’m not sure I agree with him on that. I may be the most interesting and rewarding, but the core power of the activity mentally is that connection the student made.
If you use the Depth and Complexity framework, this is a great activity because it’s not only Language of the Discipline, but also Across Disciplines.
To use it as an Across Disciplines activity, have students analyze the words in one of two ways:
- Compare two words from different fields (compare a triangle to the Allied Powers in WWII), or
- Compare two words from across the same discipline (compare triangle to dodecahedron).
Because it can be done independently, in pairs or in small groups, it’s a nice, flexible activity, as well.
? Wrapping Up:
The Word Pairs strategy is one of my favorites because it’s so flexible.
You can make it a very quick little practice exercise, or you can spend an entire class segment or period on it.
I hope you’ll try it because I think both you and your students will enjoy it and get a lot of benefit out of it. ?
? You May Also Like:
- How to Teach Vocabulary with Depth & Complexity Frames
- How to Use a Linear Array to Teach Vocabulary
- Teaching Using the I Spy Activity
Want to be a Vocabulary Luau insider? Sign up here & grab your free two-page list of vocabulary question stems. I’d love to have you join the party!????
Nonreversible word pairs always appear in the same order, e.g., back and forth. It would sound awkward if we read forth and back. For many of us, certain words go together and we will automatically use the correct order. However, nonnative speakers will need to learn nonreversible word pairs.
Common Word Pairs
The following is a list of common word pairs. Collocations are also a good idea to learn if you are a nonnative speaker. These are words commonly used together, e.g., have a headache.
| Adam and Eve | life or death |
| back and forth | lock and key |
| bacon and eggs | lost and found |
| bed and breakfast | man and wife |
| birds and bees | name and address |
| black and white | nice and easy |
| body and soul | null and void |
| bread and butter | peaches and cream |
| bread and water | pen and pencil |
| bricks and mortar | pork and beans |
| bride and groom | pots and pans |
| business and pleasure | prim and proper |
| by and large | profit and/or loss |
| cause and effect | pros and cons |
| cloak and dagger | pure and simple |
| coat and tie | rain or shine |
| coffee and doughnuts | ranting and raving |
| cream and sugar | read and write |
| crime and punishment | right and/or wrong |
| cup and saucer | rise and fall |
| dead or alive | salt and pepper |
| down and out | shirt and tie |
| first and last | shoes and socks |
| fish and chips | short and fat |
| flesh and blood | signed and sealed |
| forgive and forget | slip and slide |
| front and center | soap and water |
| fun and games | sooner or later |
| give and take | stars and stripes |
| ham and eggs | suit and tie |
| hammer and nail | supply and demand |
| hemmed and hawed | sweet and sour |
| high and dry | tall and thin |
| high and low | thick and thin |
| hot and bothered | tossed and turned |
| huffing and puffing | touch and go |
| husband and wife | trial and error |
| in and out | trials and tribulations |
| Jack and Jill | up and/or down |
| knife and fork | wait and see |
| ladies and gentlemen | war and peace |
| law and order | wine and cheese |
If we forgot a word pair, please let us know via our comment form below.
Reader Interactions
Englishbix will help you to learn about some of the non-reversible word pairs. These pair of words will appear in similar order and they go together that can be read in back and forth. These words can be used by English learners to improve their vocabulary.
Below are a few common examples of English word pairs that go together from a to z.
| Adam and Eve | life or death |
| back and forth | lock and key |
| bacon and eggs | lost and found |
| bed and breakfast | man and wife |
| birds and bees | name and address |
| black and white | nice and easy |
| body and soul | null and void |
| bread and butter | peaches and cream |
| bread and water | pen and pencil |
| bricks and mortar | pork and beans |
| bride and groom | pots and pans |
| business and pleasure | prim and proper |
| by and large | profit and/or loss |
| cause and effect | pros and cons |
| cloak and dagger | pure and simple |
| coat and tie | rain or shine |
| coffee and doughnuts | ranting and raving |
| cream and sugar | read and write |
| crime and punishment | right and/or wrong |
| cup and saucer | rise and fall |
| dead or alive | salt and pepper |
| down and out | shirt and tie |
| first and last | shoes and socks |
| fish and chips | short and fat |
| flesh and blood | signed and sealed |
| forgive and forget | slip and slide |
| front and center | soap and water |
| fun and games | sooner or later |
| give and take | stars and stripes |
| ham and eggs | suit and tie |
| hammer and nail | supply and demand |
| hemmed and hawed | sweet and sour |
| high and dry | tall and thin |
| high and low | thick and thin |
| hot and bothered | tossed and turned |
| huffing and puffing | touch and go |
| husband and wife | trial and error |
| in and out | trials and tribulations |
| Jack and Jill | up and/or down |
| knife and fork | wait and see |
| ladies and gentlemen | war and peace |
| law and order | wine and cheese |
Keep exploring Englishbix to learn about minimal pairs used in speech therapy and correlative conjunction pairs.
Quick Links
- Examples of Correlative Conjunctions Pairs
- Final Consonant Deletion Word Pairs