Active People

Elementary (A1-A2) 25 minutes
ESL verb-noun collocations miming game for Elementary A1-A2, matching and present continuous sentences

ESL Verb-Noun Collocations Game - Vocabulary and Grammar: Matching, Gap-fill, Asking Questions, Miming, Guessing

In this enjoyable verb-noun collocations miming game, pairs race to complete sentences by miming and guessing actions and using collocations in the present continuous. First, students...

ESL Verb-Noun Collocations Game - Vocabulary and Grammar: Matching, Gap-fill, Asking Questions, Miming, Guessing In this enjoyable verb-noun collocations miming game, pairs race to complete sentences by miming and guessing verb-noun collocations and using them in the present continuous. First, students complete sentences with verb-noun collocations in the present continuous. In pairs, students then take turns asking their partner what the people on their worksheet are doing. Their partner mimes the action, and they guess the collocation and say a complete sentence. Their partner checks the answer before they write the correct sentence. The first pair to finish with correct sentences wins.
Membership Online Buy Now $2.75

Collocation Dominoes

Elementary (A1-A2) 20 minutes
ESL verb-noun collocations dominoes game for Elementary A1-A2, matching and present simple sentences

ESL Verb-Noun Collocations Game - Vocabulary and Speaking: Matching, Forming Sentences, Freer Practice

In this productive verb-noun collocations game, students play dominoes by matching verbs and nouns and making present simple sentences. In groups, players take turns placing a domino at either end...

ESL Verb-Noun Collocations Game - Vocabulary and Speaking: Matching, Forming Sentences, Freer Practice In this productive verb-noun collocations game, students play dominoes by matching verbs and nouns and making present simple sentences. In groups, players take turns placing a domino at either end of a chain to form a collocation. The player then uses the verb-noun collocation in a present simple sentence, which the other group members check. A correct collocation and sentence allow the player to leave the domino in place. The first player to use all their dominoes wins the game.
Membership Online Buy Now $2.50

Verb-Noun Collocations Practice

Elementary (A1-A2) 30 minutes
ESL verb-noun collocations worksheet for Elementary A1-A2, sentence writing and partner interviews

ESL Verb-Noun Collocations Worksheet - Vocabulary: Matching, Gap-fill, Writing Sentences - Speaking: Asking and Answering Questions

This useful verb-noun collocations worksheet helps students practice have, go, take, do, watch and make through sentence writing and interviews about daily routines...

ESL Verb-Noun Collocations Worksheet - Vocabulary Exercises: Categorising, Matching, Gap-fill, Writing Sentences - Speaking Activity: Asking and Answering Questions In this useful verb-noun collocations worksheet, students practice collocations with 'have', 'go', 'take', 'do', 'watch', and 'make' to write sentences and interview a partner about daily activities. First, students write words and phrases under verbs to make collocations. Students then match sentence halves to form sentences with verb-noun collocations. Next, students complete sentences with verbs in the present simple. After that, students write present simple sentences with 'go', 'make', 'have', 'watch', 'do', and 'take'. Students then use prompts to write 'Do you...?' questions in a table. Following that, in pairs, students take turns asking and answering the questions, ticking 'Yes' or 'No' for their partner's answers. Finally, students use their partner's answers to write sentences, e.g. 'Sam watches cartoons after school. Sam doesn't take the bus to school.' Afterwards, the students' sentences are checked as a class.
Membership Online Buy Now $2.99

Verb-Noun Match-Up

Elementary (A1-A2) 35 minutes
ESL verb-noun collocations games and worksheet for Elementary A1-A2, matching and true or false guessing

ESL Verb-Noun Collocations Games and Worksheet - Vocabulary and Speaking: Matching, Writing Sentences, True or False, Guessing

These verb-noun collocations games and worksheet help students match collocations, write routine sentences and guess which are true. First, students pair up...

ESL Verb-Noun Collocations Games and Worksheet - Vocabulary and Speaking: Matching, Writing Sentences, True or False, Guessing These verb-noun collocations games and worksheet help students match everyday collocations, write sentences about their routines and guess which sentences are true. First, in pairs, students take turns turning over one verb card and one noun card. If the two cards match to form a verb-noun collocation, the student scores one point and keeps the cards. The student then makes a present simple sentence with the collocation, scoring an extra point for a correct sentence. The student with the most points wins the game. Students then move on to the worksheet and underline the correct verbs to complete collocations. Next, students use prompts to write present simple sentences. After that, students write true and false sentences about themselves, using a different collocation in each sentence and mixing up the true and false sentences. Finally, in pairs, students take turns reading their sentences to their partner, who guesses 'True' or 'False'. The student then confirms the answer. The student with the most correct guesses wins the game.
Membership Online Buy Now $2.75

Collocation Challenge

Pre-intermediate (A2) 30 minutes
ESL verb-noun collocations board game for pre-intermediate A2, gap-fill, listening, and group activity

ESL Verb-Noun Collocations Board Game - Vocabulary: Listening, Gap-fill - Group Work

This fun verb-noun collocations board game helps students to practice verb-noun collocations with have, take, break, do, catch and make. Students take it in turns to pick up a card and read the gap-fill sentence on the card to the other students...

ESL Verb-Noun Collocations Board Game - Vocabulary: Listening, Gap-fill - Group Work This fun verb-noun collocations board game helps students to practice verb-noun collocations with have, take, break, do, catch and make. Students take it in turns to pick up a card and read the gap-fill sentence on the card to the other students, e.g. 'If you're sick, you should BLANK some medicine'. The other students then race to repeat the sentence back to the reader, adding in the correct verb to complete the verb-noun collocation in the sentence. The first student to complete the sentence correctly wins. The winner then rolls the dice and moves their counter along the board accordingly. The first student to reach the finish wins the game.
Membership Online Buy Now $2.99

Guess the Truth

Pre-intermediate (A2) 20 minutes
ESL verb-noun collocations game for pre-intermediate A2, gap-fill, guessing, pair work

ESL Verb-Noun Collocations Game - Vocabulary and Grammar: Gap-fill, Guessing - Pair Work

In this amusing verb-noun collocations game, students complete verb-noun collocations in sentences and then guess which sentences are true for their partner. Working alone, students complete the verb...

ESL Verb-Noun Collocations Game - Vocabulary and Grammar: Gap-fill, Guessing - Pair Work In this amusing verb-noun collocations game, students complete verb-noun collocations in sentences and then guess which sentences are true for their partner. Working alone, students complete the verb-noun collocation in each sentence on their worksheet with a verb in its correct form. Students then put a tick next to the sentences that are true for them. Next, students take turns reading their sentences to their partner who guesses if they are true or not. For each correct guess their partner makes, students put a tick in the last column. The student with the most correct guesses at the end wins.
Membership Online Buy Now $2.75

Let's have a talk

Pre-intermediate (A2) 30 minutes
ESL verb-noun collocations speaking activity for pre-intermediate A2, gap-fill, questions, pair and group work

ESL Verb-Noun Collocations Activity - Vocabulary and Speaking: Gap-fill, Asking and Answering Questions, Controlled and Freer Practice

In this insightful verb-noun collocations speaking activity, students complete, ask and answer conversation questions containing useful verb-noun collocations...

ESL Verb-Noun Collocations Activity - Vocabulary and Speaking: Gap-fill, Asking and Answering Questions from Prompts, Controlled and Freer Practice In this insightful verb-noun collocations speaking activity, students complete, ask and answer conversation questions containing useful verb-noun collocations. First, in two groups, students complete verb-noun collocations in conversation questions with verbs from a box in their correct forms. Students then 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 verb-noun collocation in their response. Afterwards, students share what they learned about their partner with the class.
Membership Online Buy Now $2.75

Verb-Noun Collocations Bingo

Pre-intermediate (A2) 25 minutes
ESL verb-noun collocations bingo for pre-intermediate A2, listening, gap-fill, group game

ESL Verb-Noun Collocations Game - Vocabulary Game: Listening, Gap-fill - Group Work

In this free verb-noun collocations game, students play bingo by listening to gap-fill sentences and matching verbs with collocating nouns in sentences. Read a sentence at random from...

ESL Verb-Noun Collocations Game - Vocabulary Game: Listening, Gap-fill - Group Work In this free verb-noun collocations game, students play bingo by listening to gap-fill sentences and matching verbs with collocating nouns in sentences. Read a sentence at random from the caller's sheet, saying the word 'blank' for the missing collocating verb. Students listen and look at the verbs on their bingo cards to see if they have a verb that completes the verb-noun collocation in the sentence. If they do, they cross it off. The game continues until a student has crossed off three verbs in a row. When this happens, the student shouts 'Bingo!' and reads out the verbs they crossed off. If they match the sentences that were ticked on the caller's sheet, the student wins the round. Students then start a new round or continue to see who can cross off all nine verbs. Play several rounds, making sure students receive a different bingo card each time. If you have a large class or you want to give the students more practice with verb-noun collocations, have the students play the game in groups of six with students taking it in turns to be the bingo caller.
Online Membership

Unique Nouns

Intermediate (B1) 35 minutes
ESL verb-noun collocations game for intermediate B1, brainstorming, unique nouns, and sentence writing

ESL Verb-Noun Collocations Game - Vocabulary: Brainstorming, Matching, Writing Sentences

This creative verb-noun collocations game helps students practice using a variety of different nouns with transitive verbs. Begin by assigning the class a transitive verb, e.g. play. In teams, students choose...

ESL Verb-Noun Collocations Game - Vocabulary: Brainstorming, Matching, Writing Sentences from Prompts This creative verb-noun collocations game helps students practice using a variety of different nouns with transitive verbs. Begin by assigning the class a transitive verb, e.g. play. In teams, students choose two nouns that can be used with the verb to make a collocation, such as 'play the trombone' and 'play snooker'. Teams should try to think of nouns that they think other teams won't choose. Teams then write a sentence that illustrates each verb-noun collocation, e.g. 'I play the trombone in the school band'. Teams score one point for each grammatically correct sentence that includes a unique noun that no other team has used. In other words, if two teams use 'play football', those teams don't score a point for that sentence. Play several rounds using a different transitive verb each time. The team with the most points at the end of the game wins.
Membership Online Buy Now $2.50

Collocations Gamble

Upper-intermediate (B2) 30 minutes
ESL verb-noun collocations activity for upper-intermediate B2, gap-fill, grammar, and betting game

ESL Verb-Noun Collocations Activity - Grammar: Gap-fill, Betting

In this engaging verb-noun collocations activity, students complete verb-noun collocations in sentences with verbs and then place bets on their answers. To start, students complete verb-noun collocations in sentences with the verbs provided in...

ESL Verb-Noun Collocations Activity - Grammar: Gap-fill, Betting In this engaging verb-noun collocations activity, students complete verb-noun collocations in sentences with verbs and then place bets on their answers. To start, students complete verb-noun collocations in sentences with the verbs provided in their correct forms. Students then bet between 1 to 5 points depending on how sure they are of their answers. 5 is very sure and 1 is not very sure. Next, elicit the correct answers from the students. For each correct answer, students put a tick and write the number they bet in the 'points' column. For each incorrect answer, students put a cross. In the 'points' column, they write a minus sign with the number they bet. Finally, students add up their points. The student with the most points is the winner.
Membership Online Buy Now $2.50

Create Collocations

Upper-intermediate (B2) 30 minutes
ESL verb-noun collocations worksheet for upper-intermediate B2, matching, gap-fill, and sentence building

ESL Verb-Noun Collocations Worksheet - Vocabulary Exercises: Matching, Gap-fill

This comprehensive verb-noun collocations worksheet helps students practice verb-noun collocations with get, break, catch, do, take, waste, pay, say, lose, keep, make, have, give, tell and save. To start, students match nouns to verbs with which they...

ESL Verb-Noun Collocations Worksheet - Vocabulary Exercises: Matching, Gap-fill This comprehensive verb-noun collocations worksheet helps students practice verb-noun collocations with get, break, catch, do, take, waste, pay, say, lose, keep, make, have, give, tell and save. To start, students match nouns to verbs with which they are usually collocated. Next, students complete sentences using the nouns. After that, students complete sentences with the verbs in their correct form. Students then match sentence halves to make sentences, adding a suitable verb in the correct form to each one. Lastly, students complete sentences with verb-noun collocations from the first exercise.
Membership Online Buy Now $2.99

Understanding Verb-Noun Collocations

Verb-noun collocations are fixed or strongly preferred pairings of a verb and a noun that native speakers use together naturally, such as 'make a decision,' 'take a break,' or 'do homework.' When students substitute a plausible but wrong verb, such as 'do a decision' or 'make homework,' they are immediately understood but sound unnatural, which limits how fluent and confident they come across in both speech and writing.

This page covers verb-noun collocations across Elementary (A1-A2), Pre-intermediate (A2), Intermediate (B1), and Upper-intermediate (B2) levels, with 11 resources including dominoes, bingo, board games, speaking activities, and worksheets, and one free PDF download.

The table below shows common verb-noun collocations grouped by key verb, with examples.

VerbCommon Collocating NounsExample Sentence
have a shower, a break, a conversation, a look 'I have a shower every morning.'
take a break, a risk, a photo, notes 'She always takes notes in meetings.'
go shopping, swimming, for a walk, on holiday 'They go shopping every Saturday.'
do homework, research, exercise, the dishes 'He does his homework after school.'
make a decision, an effort, a mistake, progress 'She made a great effort to finish on time.'
break a record, a promise, the rules, a habit 'He broke a record at the competition.'
get a job, permission, advice, a degree 'She got a job at a local company.'
give a speech, advice, a presentation, permission 'He gave a speech at the conference.'

When to Use Verb-Noun Collocations

Sounding Natural Rather Than Just Correct: A speaker or writer reaches for a collocation because the conventional pairing is what a native speaker uses instinctively, and choosing the right verb tells listeners the language has been genuinely learned rather than constructed, as in 'make an effort' rather than 'do an effort.'

Covering a Wide Range of Everyday Situations: Verb-noun collocations appear in almost every communicative context, from casual conversation to professional writing, so learning them in sets around a key verb such as 'take' gives a speaker or writer instant access to phrases like 'take a break,' 'take a risk,' and 'take responsibility' all at once.

Building Precision in Professional and Academic Contexts: In formal speech and writing, collocations carry precise meaning that a paraphrase cannot always replicate, so a speaker presenting to colleagues or a writer drafting a report reaches for 'reach a conclusion' rather than 'get to a conclusion' because the collocation signals register as well as meaning.

3-Step Framework for Teaching Verb-Noun Collocations

1. Start with Form: Get Students Matching Verbs to Nouns: The first priority is getting students to see which verbs and nouns belong together before asking them to produce anything. A dominoes format works well at this stage because each play forces a decision about whether a pairing is a real collocation. Crucially, a correct play is only accepted if the student can also say a true sentence with that collocation, such as 'I have a shower every morning,' which ties recognition to meaningful use from the very start.

2. Move to Spoken Production Through Real Questions: Once students can identify collocations, push them to use those pairings naturally in conversation. A structured speaking activity where students first complete verb-noun collocations in conversation questions with verbs from a box, then ask and answer those questions with a partner, builds the bridge between knowing a collocation and reaching for it in speech. Requiring students to include the corresponding verb-noun collocation in their response to the first question in each set adds a controlled production layer before freer exchange.

3. Reward Range and Risk-Taking: The final step shifts the goal from accuracy to breadth. Challenge teams to brainstorm nouns that go with a given verb, but score only for nouns that no other team has chosen. This rule, where teams score one point for each grammatically correct sentence that includes a unique noun that no other team has used, pushes students beyond obvious pairings and into less common collocations they actually know.

Common Mistakes with Verb-Noun Collocations

Swapping a Verb for a Near Synonym: Students often replace the correct verb in a collocation with a near synonym that seems logical, not realizing the collocation is fixed and the substitution sounds unnatural to a native speaker. Wrong: 'She did a great effort to finish the project on time.' Correct: 'She made a great effort to finish the project on time.'

Confusing Do and Make: Students often use 'do' where 'make' is required, or vice versa, because the two verbs share a single translation in many languages and their collocations follow no rule that can be easily predicted. Wrong: 'She always does an excuse when she's late.' Correct: 'She always makes an excuse when she's late.'

Common Questions About Teaching Verb-Noun Collocations

What is a good game for practicing verb-noun collocations?

Bingo keeps every student listening because each sentence is a potential card match. In the free game Verb-Noun Collocations Bingo, the caller reads a sentence saying 'blank' for the missing verb, and students check their cards to see if they have a verb that completes the collocation. The first student to cross off three verbs in a row wins.

What is an effective worksheet for teaching verb-noun collocations?

The worksheet Create Collocations covers 15 verbs including get, break, catch, lose, waste, pay, and save. Students start by matching nouns to the verbs with which they are usually collocated, then complete sentences using those nouns, work through gap-fill exercises with verbs in their correct forms, match sentence halves, and finish by completing sentences with collocations from the first exercise.

What is an engaging activity for reviewing verb-noun collocations?

Betting on their own answers forces students to assess how confident they actually are with each collocation. In the activity Collocations Gamble, students complete verb-noun collocations with verbs, then bet between 1 and 5 points per answer, with 5 meaning very sure and 1 meaning not very sure. Correct answers earn the points bet; wrong answers lose them.

Become a Teach This Member

  • 3,000+ ESL activities, games and worksheets
  • Online teaching platform with unlimited student access
  • Full access to Game Maker, Worksheet Maker and Slide Maker
View Membership Plans

Here’s What Our Members Are Saying

Jose Pinto

★★★★★

ESL Teacher, Timor-Leste

"There are a lot of resources that are useful for teaching English. I downloaded the games which are handy and use them in my classes. With the games, my students never skip class or feel tired to learn English. The resources for teaching English helped my students progress in grammar, vocabulary, writing and comprehension. They also helped me a lot to guide my students to learn in a practical way."

Julia Lohla

★★★★★

English Instructor, United States

"Thank you for providing these incredible resources. Teach-This.com is always my go-to site for class activities, and I recommend it often. I love how it is organized. I can find resources for a specific grammar concept or language function by level and type of activity. Every time I visit your site, I discover a new classroom interaction strategy that's perfect for teaching the concept I'm focusing on! When I return after the holidays, yours will be the first subscription I restart."

Carrie Brooke-Mellor

★★★★★

ESOL Teacher, United Kingdom

"I am an ESOL teacher, and the resources have helped my classes enormously. In particular, the speaking activities were a great help for my intermediate students before their exam. The website is user-friendly, and I will continue to utilise the resources - next term is reading and comprehension, so I will be looking for more resources from you. Thank you for such helpful activities and worksheets. They save me a lot of time in class preparation."

Charlie Sanders

★★★★★

ESL Teacher, France

"Teach This is an absolutely brilliant website, offering a vast amount of high-quality content, much of it free. Everyone involved in its creation deserves commendation. The leadership's vision has my deepest respect and gratitude. It's undoubtedly the best resource for English teachers, with its clear layout, easy navigation, concise messaging, and lack of invasive advertising - rare qualities that Teach This has perfected."

Joy Tebow

★★★★★

English Teacher, Laos

"When I need to add or change an activity from my school's curriculum, I always turn to TeachThis. While our curriculum is usually very good, it sometimes doesn't fit well with my students. With TeachThis, I can easily find activities that match my topic and level, and the resources make my classes more interesting and varied. I look forward to the monthly newsletter and exploring new materials for inspiration. Please keep it up!"

Mina Zolfaghari

★★★★★

English Tutor, Australia

"I like the efficiency and organization of the website. The resources cater to various levels with topic-based options for higher levels. The worksheets are very engaging and the answer keys are particularly helpful for teacher. The resources are also highly specific to levels and outcomes, making planning much easier. Finding what I need is simple and time-saving with the keyword search feature. Everything is clear and straightforward."

Karin Kiss

★★★★★

ESL Teacher, Switzerland

"The easy and ready-to-go materials have helped me a lot during the last few years. Most of all I like the grammar games that activate my pupils and keep them engaged. My lessons have become way more playful and varied. Additionally, I like the grammar worksheets which I use to consolidate what I have worked on during class. The website is very user-friendly, and I have never had any difficulties finding what I was looking for."

David-Wonbae Lee

★★★★★

Business English Teacher, Canada

"A friend told me about the site, and it's awesome. I have found the Business English resources especially engaging and relevant for my students as the materials help them understand business writing and terms. My teaching experience has also improved from using the games on the site as they allow me to teach in a fun way. The user experience is outstanding. Great job!"

Daniela Garcia

★★★★★

English Teacher, Mexico

"I found Teach-This a long time ago when I started teaching. It's always had great resources. I really appreciate the grammar materials, board games, and group activities. They've saved me lots of time on lesson planning. The materials are easy to use and understand, making my job much simpler. The best thing is that many resources can be downloaded for free. I've used it for around 8 years, and it consistently offers great content."

Thomas Wilson

★★★★★

Primary School Teacher, United Kingdom

"I use the resources from the Games Section as part of my daily 30-minute morning warm-up activities, and I've received rave reviews for using them. The games help me maintain student interest and participation and leave the students feeling happy and awake. I like everything about the site, and customer support is very effective as they respond in time."

Eugenia Fernandez

★★★★★

EFL Teacher, Argentina

"Teach-This is one of the best EFL websites I've found. It's extremely user-friendly, and I always find what I need quickly. I like the design, and the content is fun, engaging and original. I am very thankful for all your work and generosity by making some resources free. I always recommend this website to my fellow teachers. Your work is really helpful, and I value it enormously."

Jakub Havlk

★★★★★

Language School Teacher, Czechia

"I like the grammar-focused resources the most as they save me time. The resources also inspire me. If I see an interesting grammar activity, I often rework it for other grammar rules. I like the fact that I simply pay a flat fee, and I can download whatever I want. Teach-This really is a great timesaver. I know that if I am in need of resources for my students, I can go to Teach-This and find something interesting."

Alice Dimpz

★★★★★

English Teacher, Kenya

"Getting familiar with the site and how to use the resources is not difficult. I found the writing skills resources to be the most valuable as they have enhanced my teaching of this skill. The website is elaborate and full of all types of resources to help me teach English. When I contacted customer support, they were super-fast to deal with my enquiry. So overall, I recommend it."

Ikrram Badaoui

★★★★★

ESL Teacher, Morocco

"I have found the grammar and vocabulary resources the most valuable. They have improved my teaching experience because they are easy to use and well-organized. The materials are very engaging for my students. The website is also very user-friendly. The best thing about Teach-This is that it offers ready-made worksheets for busy teachers, and the content is well-organized and full of information."

Tania Ahmed

★★★★★

High School Teacher, Kurdistan

"I'm really glad I found the Teach-This website. The materials in the General English section have proven to be really helpful and made my classes more engaging. The materials are well-structured and cover a wide range of topics, making it easy to keep my students interested and motivated. Overall, my experience using your resources has been great."

Khawla Orq

★★★★★

EFL Teacher, Yemen

"My first impression of the website was that it was amazing. The games and activities have really improved my teaching. The resources are engaging and relevant to my students' needs, and I find the website easy to use and navigate. Thanks."

Anika Yadav

★★★★★

English Teacher, India

"I would like to thank you for making a fantastic website. I particularly enjoy teaching the functional language materials, which have been very helpful in my classes. The resources have significantly improved my students' communication skills in daily life, so it was rewarding to see them benefit in this way. It feels great to be able to make a difference in my students' lives. Please keep up the good work."

Dr. Elena Petrov

★★★★★

Academic English Coordinator, Spain

"I've been teaching Academic English for over eight years, and Teach-This.com has become my go-to resource for university preparation classes. The academic vocabulary exercises and speaking test preparation activities are exceptionally well-designed for advanced learners. My students particularly appreciate the study skills resources and paragraph writing materials, which have significantly boosted their confidence and exam scores."

Suzanne Coleman

★★★★★

Volunteer English Teacher, England

"I like your resources because they are so interesting and attractive. Your resources help to maintain student interest. Your resources have helped with the planning and preparation of my lessons because I have often been able to find resources focusing on specific topics, grammar or vocabulary. I am particularly grateful for your free resources, which I use at the English Club where I am a volunteer and help to support internationals in the community who are learning English."