Home•Blog•IELTS Collocation List for Writing and Speaking

IELTS Collocation List for Writing and Speaking

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Published on: September 4, 2026

Collocation errors are marked under lexical resource, not grammar. “Make a research” and “do a mistake” are not grammar mistakes — the sentences parse perfectly — they are word-partnership mistakes, and band descriptors from 6 upwards explicitly reference awareness of collocation.

Each row below gives the correct partnership, its meaning, and the version candidates produce instead.

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Key Takeaways

Collocation is named in the lexical resource criterion, so wrong partnerships cost marks even in grammatically perfect sentences.
Verb + noun partnerships are the largest error group: make, do, take, have, give, pay.
Adjective + noun and verb + preposition partnerships carry most of the rest.
Learn whole phrases — storing the verb and the noun separately is what produces “make a research”.
Academic collocations transfer between Writing Task 2 and Speaking Part 3, so one list serves both.

Verb + noun: the make, do, take group

Collocation	Meaning	Wrong version to avoid
conduct research	Carry out a study	make a research
carry out a study	Perform research	do a study (weaker)
make a decision	Decide	take a decision (rare in IELTS register)
make progress	Advance	do progress
make an effort	Try	do an effort
make a contribution	Contribute	do a contribution
do damage	Harm	make damage
do harm	Cause harm	make harm
take measures	Act to address something	make measures
take steps	Begin acting	do steps
take responsibility	Accept accountability	have responsibility (different meaning)
take into account	Consider	take in account
have an impact on	Affect	make an impact to
have access to	Be able to use	have access of
give priority to	Treat as most important	make priority to
give rise to	Cause	give raise to
pay attention to	Focus on	pay attention on
play a role in	Be a factor in	play a role of
raise awareness	Increase public knowledge	rise awareness
reach a conclusion	Conclude	arrive a conclusion

Verb + noun: policy and society

Collocation	Meaning	Wrong version to avoid
implement a policy	Put a policy into practice	apply a policy out
introduce legislation	Bring in a law	make legislation
impose a ban	Prohibit officially	put a ban
impose restrictions	Limit officially	make restrictions
allocate resources	Assign funding or staff	distribute resources to (different meaning)
address an issue	Deal with a problem	attend an issue
tackle a problem	Confront it	face off a problem
meet a need	Satisfy a requirement	fill a need (informal)
bridge the gap	Reduce a difference	close in the gap
reap the benefits	Obtain the advantages	harvest the benefits
bear the cost	Pay for something	carry the cost (weaker)
pose a threat	Be dangerous	make a threat (different meaning)
set a target	Establish a goal	put a target
achieve a goal	Reach an objective	realise a goal (context-dependent)
fulfil a requirement	Satisfy a condition	complete a requirement

Adjective + noun

Collocation	Meaning	Wrong version to avoid
significant increase	A notable rise	important increase
substantial proportion	A large share	substantial part of people
widespread concern	Worry across many people	wide concern
growing awareness	Increasing knowledge	growing conscience
fundamental difference	A basic distinction	fundamental distinct
compelling evidence	Convincing proof	convincing prove
adverse effect	A harmful consequence	adversary effect
viable alternative	A workable option	viable option to (preposition error)
vested interest	A stake in an outcome	invested interest
pressing need	An urgent requirement	pressuring need
sustainable growth	Growth that can continue	sustained growth (different meaning)
long-term consequences	Effects over time	long-time consequences
underlying cause	The fundamental reason	under cause
disproportionate burden	An unfairly large share	unproportional burden
marked improvement	A clearly visible gain	marking improvement

Verb + preposition

Collocation	Meaning	Wrong version to avoid
result in	Cause	result to
result from	Be caused by	result of
contribute to	Help cause	contribute in
depend on	Be determined by	depend of
consist of	Be made up of	consist in (different meaning)
benefit from	Gain from	benefit of
comply with	Follow a rule	comply to
account for	Explain or constitute	account of
invest in	Put money into	invest on
focus on	Concentrate on	focus in
rely on	Depend on	rely in
differ from	Be unlike	differ to
object to	Oppose	object against
refer to	Mention	refer at
stem from	Originate in	stem of

Noun + preposition

Collocation	Meaning	Wrong version to avoid
an increase in	Growth of something	an increase of (for the amount only)
a decline in	A fall in something	a decline of (for the amount only)
the reason for	The cause	the reason of
a solution to	An answer to a problem	a solution of
an effect on	An influence upon	an effect to
access to	Ability to use	access of
demand for	Desire to buy	demand of
an alternative to	A different option	an alternative of
confidence in	Trust in	confidence on
awareness of	Knowledge about	awareness on
an emphasis on	Special importance given	an emphasis to
exposure to	Contact with	exposure of

Collocations for describing data (Task 1)

Collocation	Use
a sharp rise / a sharp decline	Rapid, large change
a steady increase / a gradual decrease	Slow, even change
a slight fluctuation	Small irregular movement
reach a peak of	Highest point in a period
hit a low of	Lowest point
remain stable at	No meaningful change
level off at	Stop changing after movement
rise steadily throughout the period	Consistent direction
account for the largest share	Biggest category
be broadly comparable	Similar levels
exceed X by Y	Quantified difference
fall short of	Below a figure or target
a fourfold increase	Four times the original
rise by five percentage points	Change in a share — not “five percent”

Collocations for opinion and argument (Task 2 and Speaking Part 3)

Collocation	Function
make a case for	Argue in favour
hold the view that	Believe
share the concern that	Agree with a worry
overstate the risk	Say a danger is bigger than it is
overlook the fact that	Fail to consider
strike a balance between	Find a compromise
weigh the costs against the benefits	Compare both sides
draw a distinction between	Separate two things
bear in mind that	Remember a qualification
fall short of the mark	Be inadequate
run counter to	Contradict
lend weight to	Support an argument
call into question	Cast doubt on
on the face of it	Apparently, before examination

The five errors that cost the most

Error	Correct form	Why it matters
make a research	conduct research / carry out research	The single most common IELTS collocation error
rise awareness	raise awareness	Also a grammar error: rise takes no object
comply to	comply with	Fixed preposition, no exceptions
an important increase	a significant increase	“Important” does not collocate with quantities
depend of	depend on	Very frequent and very visible

How to drill collocations

Day	Section	Method
1-2	Verb + noun (make, do, take)	Cover the collocation column; produce the phrase from the meaning
3-4	Verb + noun (policy and society)	Write one Task 2 sentence per collocation
5	Adjective + noun	Rewrite an old essay replacing weak adjectives
6	Prepositions	Say each aloud — prepositions stick through sound
7	Data and argument sets	Describe a chart aloud, then argue a Task 2 prompt aloud
Weekly	Your own errors	Keep a list of every collocation you got wrong and drill only those

The last row does more than the rest. A personal error list is short, specific and repeats — and the errors you make are the ones costing you marks, not the ones on a general list.

FAQ

Do collocations affect my IELTS score?

Yes, under lexical resource. The band descriptors reference awareness of collocation from band 6 upwards, so “make a research” costs you marks in a sentence that is otherwise grammatically flawless.

What is the most common collocation error in IELTS?

“Make a research” instead of “conduct research” or “carry out research”. Close behind are “rise awareness” for “raise awareness”, “comply to” for “comply with”, and “depend of” for “depend on”.

Should I learn collocations or individual words?

Collocations. Learning a verb and a noun separately is precisely what produces wrong pairings, because both halves are correct and only the combination is wrong. Store the phrase as one unit.

Are collocation errors grammar errors?

No, and that distinction matters for how you fix them. Grammar errors have rules you can apply; collocation errors have only conventions, so they respond to exposure and drilling rather than to explanation.

Do the same collocations work in Writing and Speaking?

The argument and opinion sets transfer directly between Task 2 and Speaking Part 3, since both require abstract evaluative language. The data-description set is Task 1 only, and idiomatic collocations suit Speaking better than academic Writing.

How many collocations should I learn?

Fewer than you think, drilled harder. The functional sets on this page cover what Writing and Speaking actually require, and a personal list of the collocations you have got wrong is worth more study time than any general list.

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