Business Phrasal Verbs Bingo

Intermediate (B1) 25 minutes
Business English phrasal verbs game preview showing vocabulary matching and gap-fill bingo activities for intermediate B1 level meetings and deadlines vocabulary

Business English Phrasal Verbs Game - Vocabulary: Matching, Gap-fill - Group Work

In this fun business phrasal verbs game, students play bingo by completing sentences with phrasal verbs for meetings and deadlines. In groups, the bingo caller picks up a phrasal verb card and reads it aloud to the players. Players then try to...

Business English Phrasal Verbs Game - Vocabulary: Matching, Gap-fill - Group Work In this fun business phrasal verbs game, students play bingo by completing sentences with phrasal verbs for meetings and deadlines. In groups, the bingo caller picks up a phrasal verb card and reads it aloud to the players. Players then try to complete one of the sentences on their bingo card with the phrasal verb in its correct form, writing it in the space provided using a pencil. The caller then picks up the next phrasal verb card, and so on. The first player to get three squares in a row shouts, 'Bingo!' The caller then checks the player's answers using the answer key. If the answers are correct, the player wins the first round. Players then take part in a second round to see who can be the first to complete all nine squares. When both rounds have been played, players erase their answers from the bingo cards. Groups play several games, with students taking turns to be the bingo caller and the players using a different bingo card each time.

Business Phrasal Verb Jeopardy

Intermediate (B1) 25 minutes
Business English phrasal verbs game preview showing vocabulary quiz and guessing activities for intermediate B1 level meetings and deadlines vocabulary

Business English Phrasal Verbs Game - Vocabulary: Quiz, Guessing - Group Work

In this entertaining business phrasal verbs quiz game, students guess phrasal verbs based on their definitions. Choose a square to start the game, e.g. 'put' for 100 points. Read the definition of the phrasal verb, e.g. 'postpone a meeting.' The...

Business English Phrasal Verbs Game - Vocabulary: Quiz, Guessing - Group Work In this entertaining business phrasal verbs quiz game, students guess phrasal verbs based on their definitions. Choose a square to start the game, e.g. 'put' for 100 points. Read the definition of the phrasal verb, e.g. 'postpone a meeting.' The first student to raise their hand and give the correct business phrasal verb (e.g. put off) wins that square for their team and the number of points shown in the square. Write the winning team's name in the square. If a student gives an incorrect answer, their team is out for that question and may only answer again if all other teams answer incorrectly. The winning team then chooses the next square, and all the teams raise their hands to answer, as before. At the end of the game, add up the points for each team. The team with the most points wins the game. As a variation, when a student answers correctly, the winning team tries to make a sentence with the business phrasal verb. If they do this successfully, the points for the square are doubled.

Work as, in, on, for, at, with

Intermediate (B1) 25 minutes
Business English phrasal verbs with work worksheet preview showing vocabulary exercises, gap-fill, error correction, rewriting sentences, and speaking activities for intermediate B1 level students

Business English Phrasal Verbs with Work Worksheet - Vocabulary Exercises: Gap-fill, Error Correction, Rewriting sentences - Speaking Activity - Pair Work

In this productive business phrasal verbs worksheet, students practice talking about jobs and work using the phrasal verbs: work as, work in, work on, work for...

Business English Phrasal Verbs with Work Worksheet - Vocabulary Exercises: Gap-fill, Error Correction, Rewriting sentences - Speaking Activity - Pair Work In this productive business phrasal verbs worksheet, students practice talking about jobs and work using the phrasal verbs: work as, work in, work on, work for, work at, and work with. First, students match phrasal verbs with work to their definitions. Students then complete sentences with the six phrasal verbs in their correct form. Next, students correct phrasal verb mistakes in sentences. After that, students rewrite sentences, adding in one of the six phrasal verbs related to work. Lastly, students complete questions about work with the six phrasal verbs and then ask and answer the questions with a partner.

Match Them Up

Upper-intermediate (B2) 20 minutes
Business English phrasal verbs game preview featuring vocabulary matching and rephrasing sentences activities for upper-intermediate B2 level business vocabulary practice

Business English Phrasal Verbs Game - Vocabulary: Matching, Rephrasing Sentences - Pair Work

In this engaging business phrasal verbs game, students practice phrasal verbs commonly used in business by matching them to verbs in sentences that have the same meaning. In pairs, students take turns...

Business English Phrasal Verbs Game - Vocabulary: Matching, Rephrasing Sentences - Pair Work In this engaging business phrasal verbs game, students practice phrasal verbs commonly used in business by matching them to verbs in sentences that have the same meaning. In pairs, students take turns picking up a sentence card from the pile and reading it to their partner, emphasising the verb in bold. The other student listens and then has one chance to find the phrasal verb on the table that matches the verb in the sentence. If the student finds the correct phrasal verb, they rephrase the sentence using the phrasal verb and keep the two cards. If a student chooses the wrong phrasal verb or cannot rephrase the sentence correctly, the sentence card is placed back at the bottom of the pile. The student with the most pairs of cards at the end of the game wins.

Phrasal Verbs for Meetings

Upper-intermediate (B2) 30 minutes
Business English phrasal verbs worksheet preview showing reading and vocabulary exercises, matching, rewriting sentences, gap-fill, and speaking roleplay for upper-intermediate B2 level meetings vocabulary

Business English Phrasal Verbs Worksheet- Reading and Vocabulary Exercises: Matching, Rewriting Sentences, Gap-fill - Speaking Activity: Roleplay - Group Work

In this phrasal verbs for meetings worksheet, students learn and practice phrasal verbs commonly used in business meetings. First, students put a business...

Business English Phrasal Verbs Worksheet- Reading and Vocabulary Exercises: Matching, Rewriting Sentences, Gap-fill - Speaking Activity: Roleplay - Group Work In this phrasal verbs for meetings worksheet, students learn and practice phrasal verbs commonly used in business meetings. First, students put a business meeting dialogue in the correct order. Students then match the phrasal verbs from the meeting dialogue with their definitions. Next, students change extracts from the start of a meeting to include phrasal verbs. After that, students complete sentences with meeting-related phrasal verbs from a box, changing the tenses as needed. Finally, in groups of four, students read a meeting scenario and then prepare and role-play a short meeting using the phrasal verbs from the worksheet.

Problem-Solving Phrasal Verbs

Upper-intermediate (B2) 25 minutes
Business English phrasal verbs worksheet and game preview featuring vocabulary exercises, matching, binary choice, vocabulary game with gap-fill for upper-intermediate B2 level problem-solving vocabulary

Business English Phrasal Verbs Worksheet and Game - Vocabulary Exercises: Matching, Binary Choice - Vocabulary Game: Matching, Gap-fill - Group Work

In this useful business English phrasal verbs worksheet and game, students learn and practice problem-solving phrasal verbs and then race to complete...

Business English Phrasal Verbs Worksheet and Game - Vocabulary Exercises: Matching, Binary Choice - Vocabulary Game: Matching, Gap-fill - Group Work In this useful business English phrasal verbs worksheet and game, students learn and practice problem-solving phrasal verbs and then race to complete sentences using them. Students begin by matching problem-solving phrasal verbs to their definitions. Next, students choose the correct phrasal verb in each sentence. After that, students play a card game to practice the phrasal verbs. In groups of three, students take turns picking up a sentence card and reading it to the other two students using the word 'blank' where the problem-solving phrasal verb should go. The other two students listen to the sentence and then race to grab the correct phrasal verb card to complete the sentence. The first student to grab the correct card and say the phrasal verb wins and keeps the two cards. If neither student gives the right answer, the sentence card is placed at the bottom of the pile and the phrasal verb cards are put back in place. The student with the most cards at the end of the game wins.

Sales Phrasal Verbs

Upper-intermediate (B2) 25 minutes
Business English phrasal verbs worksheet preview showing reading and vocabulary exercises, ordering, matching, speaking activity with questions and answers for upper-intermediate B2 level sales vocabulary

Business English Phrasal Verbs Worksheet - Reading and Vocabulary Exercises: Ordering, Matching - Speaking Activity: Answering Questions, Freer Practice

In this free sales-related phrasal verbs worksheet, students learn and practice 12 phrasal verbs commonly used in sales. Students start by putting...

Business English Phrasal Verbs Worksheet - Reading and Vocabulary Exercises: Ordering, Matching - Speaking Activity: Asking and Answering Questions, Freer Practice In this free sales-related phrasal verbs worksheet, students learn and practice 12 phrasal verbs commonly used in sales. Students start by putting a sales meeting conversation in the correct order. Students then read sales-related phrasal verbs in bold from the conversation to guess their meanings and then match each one with a definition. Next, students complete sentences with the sales phrasal verbs, changing the tense as needed. Lastly, in pairs, students ask and answer questions that contain the sales-related phrasal verbs.

Talking Business

Upper-intermediate (B2) 25 minutes
Business English phrasal verbs activity preview featuring vocabulary and speaking exercises, gap-fill, asking and answering questions, controlled and freer practice for upper-intermediate B2 level work-related vocabulary

Business English Phrasal Verbs Activity - Vocabulary and Speaking: Gap-fill, Asking and Answering Questions, Controlled and Freer Practice - Group and Pair Work

In this business phrasal verbs speaking activity, students complete, ask and answer conversation questions with work-related phrasal verbs. First, in two...

Business English Phrasal Verbs Activity - Vocabulary and Speaking: Gap-fill, Asking and Answering Questions, Controlled and Freer Practice - Group and Pair Work In this business phrasal verbs speaking activity, students complete, ask and answer conversation questions with work-related phrasal verbs. First, in two groups, students complete conversation questions with business phrasal verbs from a box in their correct forms. Next, students pair up with someone from the other group and take turns asking the conversation questions to their partner, who responds accordingly. For the first question in each set, students include the corresponding phrasal verb in their response. Afterwards, students share what they found out about their partner with the class.

Using Business Phrasal Verbs

Business phrasal verbs combine a verb with one or more particles to express actions such as postponing a meeting, raising a topic or completing a task. Learning their meanings and sentence patterns helps students understand workplace exchanges and explain what needs to happen.

This page contains eight resources across B1 and B2, including worksheets, games and speaking activities, with one free worksheet. Topics include meetings, deadlines, sales and problem-solving, alongside combinations of work with prepositions for describing jobs and responsibilities.

The table gives examples of phrasal verbs in workplace contexts.

Phrasal verbMeaning in this contextExample language
put off Postpone something until later. 'We put off the meeting until Friday.'
bring up Introduce a topic for discussion. 'Could you bring up the delivery dates at the meeting?'
go over Review or examine something. 'Let's go over the figures before we send the report.'
carry out Perform a task or procedure. 'The team carried out the checks yesterday.'
follow up on Take further action concerning something earlier. 'I'll follow up on your enquiry tomorrow.'
set up Arrange or establish something. 'We need to set up a meeting with the supplier.'

How to Use Business Phrasal Verbs

Learn the meaning in its context: A familiar verb can express a different action when combined with a particle. Connect each expression with a workplace situation and a short example, rather than translating the verb and particle separately.

Check the sentence pattern: Learn where the object belongs as well as what the expression means. For a separable phrasal verb such as put off, a pronoun goes between the verb and particle: 'We put it off.' Other combinations, such as go over, keep the object after the complete expression.

Choose wording the listener will understand: Phrasal verbs can suit everyday workplace communication, but their meanings may be unfamiliar to a colleague or customer. Use a clear alternative or explanation when needed, and choose the verb tense to show whether an action is planned, ongoing or completed.

3-Step Framework for Teaching Business Phrasal Verbs

The first two stages develop recognition and sentence completion at B1. The final B2 stage extends practice into a meeting role-play, so use the sequence across lessons according to learners' readiness.

1. Recall Expressions from Their Meanings: Students listen to definitions and identify the matching phrasal verbs to win points for their team. Use the optional sentence-making variation to connect each recalled expression with a context. This prepares learners to choose expressions by meaning when completing sentences.

2. Select the Correct Form in a Sentence: A caller reads phrasal verbs aloud while players use them to complete sentences on bingo cards, changing the form as needed. Answers are checked when a player claims three squares in a row, before play continues towards a full card. This adds attention to sentence meaning and verb form before more extended use.

3. Use the Language in a Meeting: Students order a meeting dialogue, match expressions with definitions and rewrite extracts using phrasal verbs. After completing further sentences, groups of four prepare and role-play a short meeting from a scenario. This connects model language and controlled practice with choosing expressions during a spoken exchange.

Common Mistakes with Business Phrasal Verbs

Putting a pronoun after a separable phrasal verb: With put off, place an object pronoun between the verb and particle. Incorrect: 'We put off it until Friday.' Correct: 'We put it off until Friday.'

Confusing postponement with cancellation: Put off means delay, while call off means cancel. Choose the expression that accurately reports the decision. Wrong meaning for a postponed meeting: 'We called off the meeting' when it has been moved to Friday. Accurate wording: 'We put off the meeting until Friday.'

Common Questions About Teaching Business Phrasal Verbs

What game helps students practice business phrasal verbs?

The game Match Them Up asks students to replace a verb in a sentence with a phrasal verb that has the same meaning. Partners read sentence cards aloud, then select a matching phrasal verb and rephrase the sentence to keep the cards. Winning therefore requires both recognising meaning and constructing the revised sentence.

What worksheet helps teach business phrasal verbs?

The free worksheet Sales Phrasal Verbs introduces 12 expressions through a sales meeting conversation. Students order the dialogue, infer meanings and match definitions before completing sentences with the correct forms. Pair questions then move the vocabulary into conversation, connecting understanding of the expressions with using them to discuss sales.

What speaking activity helps practice business phrasal verbs?

The activity Talking Business uses conversation questions that students complete with work-related phrasal verbs. They then exchange questions with a partner from the other group, including a specified phrasal verb in their first response in each set. Reporting what they learned about their partner gives the exchange a listening purpose as well.

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