Collocations for IELTS Writing and Speaking

Lexical Resource is a quarter of your Writing and Speaking score. The public IELTS band descriptors mention collocation directly: at Band 7, candidates show “awareness of style and collocation”, and at Band 8 only occasional inaccuracies in word choice and collocation remain. You can read the descriptors on ielts.org.

In practice, this means an accurate everyday pair such as raise awareness of does more for your score than a rare word used in the wrong combination. Collocations also make you faster: you think in ready-made chunks instead of single words. No list of words can guarantee a band, but removing collocation errors is one of the quickest gains available.

The topics that come up most often in Writing Task 2 and Speaking Part 3. Each page mixes formal pairs for essays with neutral and informal ones for speaking, and says which is which.

• Environment collocations16 collocations · Tackle climate change, renewable energy sources, pose a threat to.
• Education collocations16 collocations · Acquire knowledge, higher education, sit an exam, rote learning.
• Health collocations16 collocations · Sedentary lifestyle, life expectancy, take regular exercise.
• Technology collocations16 collocations · Technological advances, the digital divide, screen time.
• Work and employment collocations16 collocations · Job satisfaction, work-life balance, career prospects.
• Crime and law collocations15 collocations · Commit a crime, act as a deterrent, rehabilitate offenders.
• Government and society collocations15 collocations · Allocate public funds, implement a policy, an ageing population.
• Media and advertising collocations15 collocations · Target audience, spread misinformation, media coverage.
• Globalisation collocations14 collocations · Cultural identity, multinational corporations, economic growth.
• Cities and housing collocations15 collocations · Urban sprawl, affordable housing, the cost of living.
• Transport collocations15 collocations · Ease traffic congestion, rush hour, the daily commute.
• Family collocations15 collocations · Bring up children, the generation gap, close-knit family.
• Tourism collocations15 collocations · Mass tourism, boost the local economy, cultural heritage.
• Science and research collocations15 collocations · Conduct research, scientific breakthrough, draw conclusions.

The pairs learners get wrong most often, whatever the topic: make vs do, take, have and get, pay, keep and catch, and the adjectives and adverbs that sharpen Writing.

• Make vs do18 collocations · Make a mistake, make progress, do research, do harm.
• Take, have and get16 collocations · Take into account, have an impact on, get used to.
• Pay, keep and catch18 collocations · Pay attention to, keep pace with, catch someone's eye.
• Adjective and adverb collocations20 collocations · Heavy traffic, a strong argument, widely accepted.

These slips appear again and again in IELTS answers. Each one links to the page where the correct version is explained.

1. Learn the whole chunk. Write down pose a threat to, not just threat. The verb and preposition are where errors happen.
2. Learn by topic. IELTS questions cluster around a dozen themes. Ten collocations for each theme cover most essays.
3. Note the register. Mark each pair formal, neutral or informal, so you do not write get on the property ladder in an essay.
4. Use it within a day. Write one sentence of your own with each new collocation on a real IELTS question, then say it out loud.
5. Notice them in model answers. When you read a Band 8 sample, underline the word pairs, not the rare single words.

• IELTS vocabulary by topic
• Idioms for IELTS Speaking
• Synonyms for IELTS Writing
• Task 2 sample essays
• Speaking Part 3 questions
• Grammar lessons