Money & Business — B1 Essential Words

afford /əˈfɔːrd/ verb B1 Money

Meaning: To have enough money to buy or do something.

Example: We can’t afford a new car this year.

Another example: Can you afford a ticket to New York?

Collocations: can afford · can’t afford · afford to buy

Synonyms: have enough money for, manage to pay for

Word family: afford (v) · affordable (adj)

⚠ Common mistake: Use ’afford’ with to + verb or with a noun: ’I can afford to go’ / ’I can afford the ticket.’ In daily speech it almost always comes with ’can’ or ’can’t’.

🗣 In spoken American English: People say ’It’s a bit pricey, but I can afford it’ or simply ’Can’t afford it right now.’

Register: neutral — fine in speech and writing

bill /bɪl/ noun B1 Money

Meaning: A piece of paper or a message that shows how much money you must pay for something, like electricity, a meal, or a phone service.

Example: The electricity bill arrives every month.

Another example: Can we have the bill, please? We’re ready to pay.

Collocations: pay a bill · electricity bill · the phone bill

Synonyms: check (at a restaurant), invoice (for business)

Word family: bill (n) · bill (v) · billing (n)

⚠ Common mistake: Don’t confuse ’bill’ (what you must pay) with ’receipt’ (the proof you get after you pay).

🗣 In spoken American English: At a restaurant in the US, people ask for ’the check’ or ’the bill’ — both are fine. Friends ask ’Split the bill?’ to share the cost.

Register: neutral — fine in speech and writing

budget /ˈbʌdʒ.ɪt/ noun B1 Money

Meaning: A plan for how to spend your money over a period of time, or the amount of money you have for something.

Example: Our travel budget is $500 for the whole trip to Miami.

Another example: Lisa writes a budget every month to save money.

Collocations: a monthly budget · on a budget · budget plan

Synonyms: spending plan

Word family: budget (n) · budget (v) · budgeting (n)

⚠ Common mistake: Say ’on a budget’ when money is limited: ’We travel on a budget.’ Don’t say ’in a budget’.

🗣 In spoken American English: People say ’It’s not in the budget’ to mean ’we have no money planned for that’.

Register: neutral — fine in speech and writing

debt /det/ noun B1 Money

Meaning: Money that you owe to a person or a bank and must pay back.

Example: He worked for years to pay off his debt.

Another example: Too much debt can cause a lot of stress.

Collocations: pay off a debt · be in debt · credit card debt

Synonyms: money owed

Antonyms: savings

Word family: debt (n) · debtor (n)

⚠ Common mistake: The b in ’debt’ is silent: say ’det’. Say ’be in debt’ with no article: ’He is in debt’, not ’He is in a debt’.

🗣 In spoken American English: People say ’I’m debt-free’ with pride when all their debts are paid.

Register: neutral — fine in speech and writing

loan /loʊn/ noun B1 Money

Meaning: Money that a bank or a person lends you, which you must pay back, usually with extra money called interest.

Example: They took out a loan to buy their house in Denver.

Another example: The bank said no to his loan application.

Collocations: take out a loan · a bank loan · repay a loan

Synonyms: borrowing

Word family: loan (n) · loan (v) · lend (v)

⚠ Common mistake: ’Borrow’ is what you do; ’loan’ is the money itself: ’I borrowed money from the bank’ = ’I took out a loan.’

🗣 In spoken American English: People say ’student loans’ for money borrowed to pay for college in the US.

Register: neutral — fine in speech and writing

save /seɪv/ verb B1 Money

Meaning: To keep money for the future instead of spending it now; also to rescue someone or to keep something safe.

Example: Michael saves $100 from his pay every month.

Another example: We’re saving for a trip to Boston.

Collocations: save money · save for a trip · save up

Synonyms: put aside, keep

Antonyms: spend, waste

Word family: save (v) · savings (n) · saver (n)

⚠ Common mistake: For money, ’save’ means keep it, not spend it: ’I save $50 a week.’ The money you keep is your ’savings’.

🗣 In spoken American English: People also say ’Save me a seat’ (keep it for me) and ’That saved me!’ after someone helps them out of trouble.

Register: neutral — fine in speech and writing

charge /tʃɑːrdʒ/ verb B1 Money

Meaning: To ask for money as the price of something; also to put electricity into a battery.

Example: The hotel charges $20 a night for parking.

Another example: How much do you charge for a haircut?

Collocations: charge for · charge a fee · free of charge

Synonyms: ask money for, bill (v)

Word family: charge (v) · charge (n) · charger (n)

⚠ Common mistake: The shop charges; the customer pays: ’They charged me $10’ = ’I paid $10.’ Don’t mix the two sides up.

🗣 In spoken American English: ’Free of charge’ means ’free’ — you hear it in ads, offices, and hotels.

Register: neutral — fine in speech and writing

rich /rɪtʃ/ adjective B1 Money

Meaning: Having a lot of money, land, or valuable things.

Example: You don’t have to be rich to travel — you need a good plan.

Another example: The rich family gave money to build a new school library in Chicago.

Collocations: rich and famous · get rich · a rich area

Synonyms: wealthy

Antonyms: poor

Word family: rich (adj) · riches (n) · richly (adv)

⚠ Common mistake: For one person say ’He is rich’; ’a rich’ alone is not a noun. Say ’a rich man/woman’ or ’rich people’.

🗣 In spoken American English: People also use ’rich’ for food with lots of butter or cream: ’This cake is too rich for me.’

Register: neutral — fine in speech and writing

poor /pʊr/ adjective B1 Money

Meaning: Having very little money; also used for something of low quality.

Example: The town built a free clinic to help poor families.

Another example: He grew up poor but worked hard and built a good life.

Collocations: poor families · poor quality · the poor

Synonyms: broke (informal), needy

Antonyms: rich, wealthy

Word family: poor (adj) · poverty (n) · poorly (adv)

⚠ Common mistake: ’Poor’ for money is fine in news and careful speech. For yourself today, friends say the informal ’I’m broke’ — but only with people you know well.

🗣 In spoken American English: People say ’poor thing’ with sympathy, and ’poor quality’ for something badly made.

Register: neutral — fine in speech and writing

worth /wɝːθ/ adjective B1 Money

Meaning: Having a value of a certain amount of money, or good enough to justify the time or money spent on it.

Example: This old car is worth about $3,000.

Another example: The long drive to San Diego was worth it — the beach was amazing.

Collocations: be worth · worth it · worth every dollar

Synonyms: valued at

Antonyms: worthless

Word family: worth (adj) · worthy (adj) · worthless (adj)

⚠ Common mistake: Use ’worth’ + a price or an -ing verb: ’worth $50’, ’worth seeing’. Don’t say ’It worths’ — say ’It is worth’.

🗣 In spoken American English: ’Worth it!’ is a common short answer meaning ’the result was good for the price or the effort’.

Register: neutral — fine in speech and writing