TOEFL idioms and fixed expressions
201 words in this theme, levelled so you can tell what is worth your time at your band.
TOEFL idioms are the fixed expressions a speaker uses without explaining them — *a blessing in disguise*, *brush up on*, *come to terms with*. They cluster in Listening, where two speakers on campus talk the way people actually talk, and they cannot be worked out from the individual words.
Why this theme earns your time
This is the theme where guessing from context fails most often. You either know that *brush up on* means to revise, or you hear three words about brushing. Because Listening plays once, there is no second pass to recover the meaning from.
What the words look like
Every entry carries its part of speech, pronunciation, CEFR level, the collocations it actually appears in, and a sentence using it. A sample from the bank:
| Word | CEFR | Meaning | In use |
|---|---|---|---|
| a blessing in disguiseidiom | B2 | something that seems bad but turns out to be goodturn out to be a blessing in disguise | Missing that flight was a blessing in disguise. |
| brush up onphr. | B1 | to practice and improve a skill you have not used for a whilebrush up on grammar | I should brush up on my statistics before the course starts. |
| come to terms withidiom | B2 | to accept something difficultcome to terms with | It took him a term to come to terms with the transfer. |
| fair and squareidiom | B2 | honestly and according to the rulesfair and square | They won the debate fair and square. |
| get back tophr. | B1 | to contact someone later with an answer; to return toget back to you · get back to work | I'll get back to you by email this afternoon. |
| go aheadphr. | B1 | to begin or continue, especially after permissiongo ahead with the plan · Go ahead. | Go ahead and start without me; I'll be five minutes. |
| in advanceidiom | B2 | before a particular time or eventpay in advance · well in advance | Book the room at least two days in advance. |
| leave outphr. | B1 | to not include someone or somethingleave out a detail · feel left out | Don't leave out the reference list this time. |
| narrow downphr. | B1 | to reduce the number of choicesnarrow down the list · narrow down the options | Let's narrow down the topics to two. |
| out of the questionidiom | B2 | not possible or not allowedcompletely out of the question | Extending the deadline is out of the question. |
| rule outphr. | B1 | to decide that something is not possible or suitablerule out the possibility | We can rule out Monday; the room is booked. |
| take for grantedidiom | B2 | to not appreciate something because it is always theretake it for granted that | We take for granted the quiet of the reading room. |
What to learn at your level
Most of this theme sits at CEFR B1 (53% of its words). At band 4 the B1 and B2 entries are the ones that move your score; grinding C1 vocabulary before the B2 layer is solid is the most common way to spend weeks and gain nothing.
| Level | Words | Share |
|---|---|---|
| B1 | 107 | 53% |
| B2 | 94 | 47% |
Recognising a word is not knowing it
Complete the Words asks you to *produce* a word from context with only its opening letters shown, and the writing tasks ask you to produce it from nothing. That is why the PrepScore drill makes you write the word rather than flip a card, and counts it mastered only after two correct productions in a row. See how the vocabulary drill works.
Drill this theme free
Twenty words a day at no cost, tested by production rather than recognition.
Frequently asked questions
Are idioms tested on the TOEFL?
They are used, which amounts to the same thing. They appear most in the Listening conversations, where the question depends on what the speaker meant.
How do I learn idioms efficiently?
By meaning, not alphabetically — and with the situation attached. An idiom learned as a definition is forgotten; one learned as something a person said is not.
Keep reading
By PrepScore · Last reviewed · Editorial standards