Commonly confused
Run up vs Run down
“Run up” and “Run down” look alike but pull in different directions. Here is the quick way to tell them apart — with examples, the mistake to avoid, and a check.
Which one do you mean?
Up means accumulate or approach; down means criticise, let decline, or lose power.
Run up
Accumulate (a bill, debt), or the period before an event.
Run down
Criticise, let decline, or (a battery) go flat.
run up
- 1
Accumulate a debt, bill or score quickly
Correct use
“She ran up a huge phone bill.”
Her phone bill grew very large in a short time.
run down
- 1
Criticise someone or something
- 2
Hit a person or animal with a vehicle
Correct use
“He's always running down his colleagues.”
He's always criticising his colleagues.
Common mistake
He ran up his own team in the meeting.
He ran down his own team in the meeting.
To criticise, use run down.
Test yourself
“She ran up a huge phone bill.” What does it mean?
Sink In — iOS & Android
Stop mixing them up
Sink In turns confusable pairs like this into quick contrast drills, so the right particle becomes automatic instead of a guess.
- Learn the pattern behind dozens of verbs at once — not one-off translations.
- Spaced repetition (SM-2) brings each meaning back right before you forget.
- Four practice modes train recall and discrimination, not just recognition.
