Take up meaning
Take up means to start a new hobby or activity. It can also mean to use an amount of space or time.
take something up
take up · took · taken · taking
I took up yoga after my back problems.
Take up 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
Start a new hobby or activity
take something up
- I took up yoga after my back problems.
- He wants to take up the guitar again.
- When did you take up climbing?
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2
Use an amount of space or time
take something up
- The sofa takes up half the room.
- Emails take up most of my morning.
- Sorry, I don’t want to take up too much of your time.
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3
Accept an offer or a chance
take somebody or something up
- She took up the offer of a free lift home.
- Thanks, I might take you up on that!
- Not many people took up the free training.
Café orders
New friends
At the airport
Slova
Use take up 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 take up separable?
Take up is separable: take up tennis, take tennis up. With a pronoun, it goes in the middle: I took it up last year. In the space meaning, the object usually comes after up: It takes up a lot of room.
To accept an offer from a person, say take someone up on something: Can I take you up on that coffee?
Verb tenses for take up
| Present | I take up · she takes up |
|---|---|
| Past | took up |
| Present perfect | have taken up |
| -ing form | taking up |
Common mistakes with take up
What learners often say, and what to say instead.
Wrong: I took up to swim last year.
Right: I took up swimming last year.
After take up, use a noun or the -ing form.
Wrong: Painting? I took up it in the summer.
Right: Painting? I took it up in the summer.
A pronoun goes between take and up.
Wrong: This bed takes up too much place.
Right: This bed takes up too much space.
Use space or room after take up, not place.
Synonyms and opposites of take up
Words close to it, and words that mean the opposite.
Similar
Opposite
- give upstop a hobby or a habit
- quitstop doing something, often for good
Take up quiz
Three quick questions. Pick an answer to see if it is right and why.
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1My dad ___ golf when he retired.
Take up a hobby means start it.
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2Choose the right sentence.
The pronoun goes between take and up.
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3We can’t fit a piano here. It ___ too much space.
Take up space means use space.
More phrasal verbs with take
All phrasal verbs with take, by level, with an exercise
10 phrasal verbs start with take. Test yourself on all of them in a few minutes.
- take offA2remove clothes, shoes or glasses from your body
- take outA2remove something from a bag, a box, a pocket or a place
- take backB1return something you bought to the shop
- take afterB2look or behave like an older person in your family
- take overB2start doing a job or a task that someone else was doing
- take onB2give someone a job
- take inB2let a person or an animal live in your home
- take downB2remove something from a wall or a high place, or take it apart
- take awayB2remove something or someone from a place or a person
Take up FAQ
Questions people ask about take up.
What does take up mean for clothes?
It means make trousers or a skirt shorter: Can you take these trousers up two centimetres? The opposite is let down.
What is the difference between take up and pick up?
Take up means start a hobby on purpose. Pick up means learn something easily, often without trying: I picked up some Italian on holiday.
What does uptake mean?
Uptake is a noun for how many people start to use something: The uptake of the new app was slow. It is used in business and news.
Use take up 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.