Pay off meaning
Pay off means to be successful and bring good results. It can also mean to pay all the money you owe on a debt.
pay off
pay off · paid · paying
All that practice finally paid off. She won!
Pay off meanings and examples
3 meanings, each with its own CEFR level. A level marked ~ is our estimate: Oxford and Cambridge give none for that meaning.
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1
Be successful and bring good results
pay off
- All that practice finally paid off. She won!
- Did your hard work pay off in the exam?
- Taking a risk doesn’t always pay off.
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2
Pay all the money you owe on a debt
pay something off
- We paid off the house when I was forty.
- I’m paying my credit card off slowly.
- It took ten years, but the loan is paid off now.
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3
Give someone money so they do something dishonest or stay quiet
pay somebody off
- The boss paid off the inspector.
- They tried to pay the witness off.
- Do you think someone paid him off?
Café orders
New friends
At the airport
Slova
Use pay off in real conversations
- Learn new words with picture cards
- Talk with Felix, an AI tutor, about the things you love
- Short lessons at your level, a few minutes a day
Is pay off separable?
When pay off means bring good results, it has no object: Hard work pays off. When it means pay a debt, it is separable: pay off the loan, pay the loan off, pay it off.
The noun payoff, one word, means a reward for effort or a payment, often a dishonest one.
Verb tenses for pay off
| Present | I pay off · she pays off |
|---|---|
| Past | paid off |
| Present perfect | have paid off |
| -ing form | paying off |
Common mistakes with pay off
What learners often say, and what to say instead.
Wrong: My hard work paid off me.
Right: My hard work paid off.
When it means bring results, pay off has no object.
Wrong: We paid off it last year.
Right: We paid it off last year.
A pronoun goes between pay and off.
Wrong: I paid off my friend the ten euros I borrowed.
Right: I paid my friend back the ten euros I borrowed.
For small money you borrowed from someone, use pay back.
Synonyms and opposites of pay off
Words close to it, and words that mean the opposite.
Similar
- workbe successful: The plan worked
- pay backgive back money you borrowed, often to a person
- clearpay all of a debt: clear a loan
Opposite
- fall throughfail to happen, so there is no result
- backfirehave the opposite result to the one you wanted
Pay off quiz
Three quick questions. Pick an answer to see if it is right and why.
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1He studied every evening, and it ___. He passed.
Pay off means bring good results.
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2Choose the right sentence.
With a pronoun, it goes between pay and off.
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3Lena paid off her car loan. What is true now?
Pay off a debt means pay all of it.
More phrasal verbs with pay
2 phrasal verbs start with pay. Test yourself on all of them in a few minutes.
Pay off FAQ
Questions people ask about pay off.
What does hard work pays off mean?
It means if you work hard, you will get good results in the end. People say it to encourage someone.
What is a payoff?
A payoff is the good result you get from your effort. It can also mean money paid to someone, often to make them leave or keep quiet.
Pay off vs pay back: what is the difference?
Pay off is for a whole debt, like a mortgage. Pay back is for money you borrowed from someone. Pay off can also mean succeed, but pay back cannot.
Use pay off in real conversations
In Slova you learn new words with picture cards, then use them when you talk about the things you love. A few minutes a day, at your level.