idiom · neutral

make ends meet

/meɪk ɛndz miːt/MAKE ENDS MEET

speakingtask2

to earn just enough money to pay for one's basic needs

Examples

“With rising rents, many families struggle to make ends meet.”

“He works two jobs to make ends meet.”

“Part-time students often find it hard to make ends meet.”

Band 8 sentence

“Despite working overtime, many young families still struggle to make ends meet because of soaring housing costs.”

Collocations

  • struggle to make ends meet
  • barely make ends meet

Word family

make ends meet idiom

Common mistakes

make the ends meet→make ends meet

make end meet→make ends meet

Say it for a higher band

5earn enough to live→6get by→7+make ends meet

Synonyms

get by

Easily confused

get by

“She doesn't earn much, but she manages to get by.”

Related words

between a rock and a hard placescrape bystrapped for cashat one's wit's endweather the stormbe up against ithit a snagbe up to one's neck (in something)

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In Hardship

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