verb · informal
pay
/peɪ/PAY
Band 4-5speakingtask2
to give money for something you buy or to settle a bill
Examples
“I usually pay by card.”
“Did you pay the electricity bill?”
“She paid him back last week.”
Band 8 sentence
“Many customers now prefer to pay contactlessly for small purchases to speed up the checkout process.”
Collocations
- pay by cash/card
- pay attention
- pay someone back
Word family
pay verbpayment nounpayable adjective
Common mistakes
I payed by card yesterday.→I paid by card yesterday.
Can I pay cash?→Can I pay in cash? / Can I pay cash?
Say it for a higher band
5give money→6pay→7+pay
Synonyms
settle
Easily confused
pay
“I will pay the bill before I leave.”
settle
“They settled their debts last year.”
Related words
Learn this word with the rest of its set, and get reminded at the right time.
In Shopping & Money
Learn it with its set