Grammar guide Updated 2026-10-07
Make and Do: A Practical Collocation Guide
Make creates a result; do carries out an activity. The real judge, though, is collocation: English fixed one verb for each noun long ago, so the pairs have to be learned as pairs.
How the two verbs divide the work
Make builds something that exists afterwards: make a cake, make a decision, make progress. Do performs a job or routine: do homework, do the dishes, do research. When the two ideas pull apart, collocation decides: make a mistake but do damage; make an excuse but do someone a favour.
| make | do |
|---|---|
| a cake / a meal / a coffee | homework / an exercise |
| a decision / a choice | the dishes / the washing |
| a mistake / an error | the shopping / the ironing |
| money / a profit / a loss | business with someone |
| progress / an improvement | someone a favour |
| a phone call / a call | exercise / sport |
| a promise / an offer | research / a survey |
| an excuse / a complaint | your best / your worst |
| arrangements / a plan | damage / harm |
| sense / a difference | the washing-up / your hair |
Three questions to ask
- Have I heard this pair before? If a fixed phrase comes to mind — make a decision — use it. Memory beats logic.
- Is there a product at the end? If something new exists when you finish, choose make: make a list.
- Is it a duty or routine? Then choose do: do business, do your best.
Ten contrasts worth teaching
| Correct | Common error |
|---|---|
| do a test (BrE: students sit a test) | make a test (teachers write one; AmE: take a test) |
| make a mistake | do a mistake |
| do homework | make homework |
| take a photo / make a film | make a photo |
| make a decision | do a decision |
| do the dishes | make the dishes |
| make a cake | do a cake |
| make progress | do progress |
| do exercise | make exercise |
| do someone a favour | make a favour |
Make, do and the have / take / give family
Many noun phrases accept a third verb, and the choice changes the flavour, not the meaning. Take a break and have a break are both normal; do a break is not.
| Family | Typical phrases |
|---|---|
| have | a shower, a bath, breakfast, a look, a rest, a chat, a go |
| take | a break, a walk, a seat, a photo, notes, an exam (AmE), a decision (formal BrE) |
| give | a talk, a presentation, a hand, a lift, an answer, advice, an example |
| make | a decision, a speech, a start, a point, a difference |
| do | a degree, a course, an exam (BrE), your hair, the garden |
Only make and do hide a real trap: learners pick the verb that seems logical instead of the one the phrase requires. The same pairing runs through countable and uncountable nouns and the patterns in the gerunds vs infinitives guide.
Passive and perfect forms
Be made of names a material you can still see: a table made of oak. Be made from names a transformed one: paper made from wood. Be made in gives the place, be made by the maker, be made into the new thing. With do, note be done with and get something done. I have done reports a finished action; I am done a finished state — the full system is in the present perfect guide.
Ten errors to correct early
- do a mistake → make a mistake.
- make homework → do homework, a task rather than a product.
- Housework takes do: the dishes, the washing, the shopping.
- make a decision, not take (AmE) or do.
- do a favour, not make a favour — though you can make an offer.
- make money and make a profit, but do business.
- make arrangements for an event, never do them.
- make sense works; do sense does not.
- make someone do takes no to (She made me wait), unlike allow / enable someone to do.
- do as an auxiliary is a different word: in Do you know her? it carries the question, not an activity.
Fix it: ten sentences
Rewrite each sentence; one verb in every line is wrong.
- She did a big mistake in the report.
- I need to make my homework before dinner.
- Could you make the washing-up tonight?
- We must do a decision by Friday.
- He made me to wait for an hour.
- I did a cake for her birthday.
- The team wants to do progress this year.
- I make exercise every morning.
- She made a photo of the harbour.
- The team did arrangements for the visit.
Answers
1 made · 2 do · 3 do · 4 make · 5 wait (no to) · 6 made · 7 make · 8 do · 9 took · 10 made.
Why. Mistakes, cakes, progress and arrangements are results, so they take make. Homework, the washing-up and exercise are activities, so they take do. Photos are taken, and causative make takes no to.
Three drills for class or self-study
- Picture to phrase. Show six pictures (a cake, dishes, a phone, homework, money, a promise). Pairs say the phrase, then write it.
- Collocation sorting. Forty phrase cards, two baskets, make and do. Teams sort in three minutes, then defend the cards they argued about.
- Writing substitution. Learners rewrite five sentences from their own week and check each other's verbs against the table above.
Remember it, and how exams test it
The shortest mnemonic that survives a lesson is make a product, do a job, plus the warning that when the phrase fights the rule, the phrase wins. Cambridge B1 and B2 papers test these pairs as a collocation gap or inside a word-formation task: make a decision, do research, make a difference. Read the whole sentence first: one noun can change verb with meaning. For ready-made practice, see the classroom grammar drills and the articles guide.
Frequently asked questions
When do I use make and when do I use do?
Use make to create a result: make a cake, make a decision, make money. Use do for tasks: do homework, do the dishes, do research. When the rules disagree, the collocation wins.
Is it do a mistake or make a mistake?
Make a mistake. English treats a mistake as something you produce, so it takes make, like make an excuse and make a promise. Do a mistake is a classic error.
Why do we say do homework but make a cake?
Homework is a task you carry out, so it takes do, like do the washing and do business. A cake is a physical thing that exists at the end, so it takes make.
What is the difference between made of and made from?
Made of names a material you can still see: a table made of oak. Made from names a transformed material: paper made from wood. Made in gives the place; made by gives the maker.
Does make someone do take to?
No. The pattern is make + person + bare infinitive: She made me wait. Allow and permit take to: She allowed me to wait.