Collocations: Make and Do
Make and do are the two most-confused verbs in B1 English. There is no rule for which one to use — each collocates with specific nouns, and learners must memorise the pairs. Make tends to suggest creating or producing: make a decision, make a difference, make a phone call, make a mistake, make an effort, make progress, make a mess, make money. Do tends to suggest performing or completing an activity: do homework, do the washing-up, do exercise, do business, do research, do your best, do a favour. The worksheet trains B1 learners to internalise the highest-frequency make / do collocations.
This worksheet builds B1 fluency with make / do collocations in everyday and workplace contexts.
Worksheet preview
What’s inside:
- Collocation table with 30+ make and do pairs grouped by topic
- Multiple-choice items targeting make vs do choice
- Gap-fill in everyday-and-workplace contexts
- Memory-game task: match the noun to make or do
- Personalised production: write five sentences using different make / do collocations
Common challenges: L1 transfer is the central trap — most languages use one verb where English splits make / do. German machen covers both; Spanish hacer covers both. So make homework (wrong) and do a mistake (wrong) are the universal beginner errors. Mnemonic: make something new exists; do something happens. Even that rule has exceptions (make sense, do business) — at B1 it’s safer to memorise high-frequency pairs.
For: Adult and teenage learners (14+) at CEFR B1, in intermediate classes, 1:1 lessons, or self-study. Make / do collocations are tested directly in Cambridge B1 Preliminary (PET) Reading-Use of English. Part of the Word Building & Style collection — the natural next step is Collocations: Have and Take, which extends the same skill into the next pair of overworked English verbs.
