phrasal verb / idiom · neutral

make ends meet

/meɪk ɛndz miːt/MAKE·ENDS·meet

task2speaking

to earn just enough money to live on

Examples

After his partner lost her job, it became harder for them to make ends meet.

Many students work part-time to make ends meet.

He took a second job on weekends so the family could make ends meet.

Band 8 sentence

As prices rose but wages stayed flat, many households found it increasingly difficult to make ends meet.

Collocations

  • make ends meet on + income/salary

Word family

make verbend noun

Common mistakes

make the end meetmake ends meet

make ends to meetmake ends meet

Say it for a higher band

5have money6get by7+make ends meet

Synonyms

get by

Easily confused

get by

With a very tight budget, they managed to get by each month.

Related words

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In make …

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