2-Minute Tip: Mix Up vs. Mess Up
Espresso English Podcast

2-Minute Tip: Mix Up vs. Mess Up

B2Upper-intermediateSeptember 17, 20261 min
  • Language lesson
  • Language learning

Welcome to your 2-Minute Tip - a short, practical English lesson for your busy day. Learn it in two minutes... use it for years! Many phrasal verbs are easy to confuse because they look similar, but have completely different meanings. Learning them in context makes them much easier to remember. If you'd like to use hundreds of the most common phrasal verbs in English confidently, check out my Phrasal Verbs in Conversation Course!

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Sentence 11 of 12 · 0:40

It means to make a mistake or do something badly.

, .

Don't be afraid to mess up.

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B2

B2 · Upper-intermediate

Comfortable if you already follow TV news

A1 41%A2 36%B1 14%B2 9%C1 0%
  • 91% of the words are B1 or easier.
  • 128 words a minute: slow, clear speech.
  • 6 harder words (B2 and up) in the whole episode.

Transcript

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0:00

Welcome to your two-minute tip, a short practical English lesson for your busy day. Learn it in two minutes. Use it for years. When should you use mix up versus mess up? These two phrasal verbs sound similar, but they mean different things.

0:18

Mix up means to confuse one thing or person with another. For example, I always mix up their names. Oops, I mixed up Tuesday and Thursday. Mix up means to confuse one thing for another.

0:35

Mess up is more general. It means to make a mistake or do something badly. For example, I deleted some important slides and messed up the presentation. Don't be afraid to mess up.

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