Make vs Do Collocations: 40 Pairs Taiwan Pros Confuse (2026) | 英文搭配詞 Make 還是 Do

本文重點: 這篇文章專為台灣上班族 (台灣上班族) 整理出 40 組 make 和 do 的搭配詞 (英文搭配詞)，解決中文母語者最常搞混的英文用法。內容涵蓋商業英文 (商業英文)、多益 (多益) 考試常見題型，以及 email 書信範例，幫你一次搞懂 make 還是 do。

If you have ever written “I will do a phone call” or “Please make your homework,” you are not alone. The make vs do confusion is the single most common collocation slip among Taiwanese English learners — and it is not because your English is weak. It is because Chinese gives you one verb (做) where English gives you two.

Native speakers rarely think about this rule consciously. They just know that you make a decision (做決定) but do the dishes (洗碗), that you do business (做生意) but make money (賺錢). For Taiwan professionals preparing for TOEIC (多益), IELTS (雅思), or daily business email (商業英文書信), getting these collocations right is the fastest way to sound natural. This guide gives you the 40 most useful pairs, the underlying rule that ties them together, and the tricky cases where even advanced learners stumble.

Why Make and Do Confuse Chinese Speakers | 為什麼中文母語者容易搞混

In Mandarin, the verb 做 covers an enormous range of actions: 做決定 (make a decision), 做生意 (do business), 做飯 (cook / make food), 做作業 (do homework), 做運動 (do exercise), 做朋友 (make friends). Notice how one Chinese verb maps to either make or do in English depending on the noun. There is no internal logic in Chinese that tells you which one to pick — you simply have to learn the English pairing.

This is why memorising collocations matters more than studying grammar rules. A Taiwanese student with strong grammar can still write “I want to do a good impression in the meeting” because the underlying Chinese 做 feels natural. The fix is not more grammar — it is collocation pairing practice.

If you want a broader introduction to why English collocations behave this way, see our earlier piece on why “strong rain” sounds wrong. This article zooms in on the make/do problem specifically because it is the most common stumble for Taiwanese English學習者 (英文學習者).

The Core Rule: Make = Create, Do = Perform | 核心規則：Make 是創造，Do 是執行

There is a useful guideline that covers about 80 percent of cases. It will not catch every exception, but it gives you a mental anchor when you have to guess.

Use MAKE when you create or produce something | 創造、產生用 Make

If the result of the action is a new object, idea, sound, or outcome that did not exist before, English usually wants make. You make a cake (the cake did not exist), make a noise (the sound is created), make a decision (a new choice is formed), make a plan (the plan is generated in your mind).

Use DO when you perform an activity or task | 執行、進行用 Do

If the action is a routine task, a job, or an unspecified activity, English usually wants do. You do the dishes (a chore), do your homework (a task), do business (an activity), do exercise (a routine), do research (a process).

A quick test: ask yourself “is something new being created?” If yes, lean toward make. If you are just performing an action that exists in the world, lean toward do. This will not catch idioms like “make the bed” (you are not creating a bed) but it covers most everyday situations.

20 Essential MAKE Collocations | 20 個必背 Make 搭配詞

These are the make pairs that appear most often in business email, TOEIC reading passages, and everyday conversation. Memorise them as fixed chunks, not as separate words.

• đưa ra quyết định — “We need to make a decision by Friday.” 做決定
• make a mistake — “I made a mistake on the invoice.” 犯錯
• make money — “The Taipei branch makes money in Q4.” 賺錢
• make a phone call — “Let me make a quick phone call.” 打電話
• make a plan — “Let’s make a plan for the launch.” 擬定計畫
• make progress — “We are making progress on the report.” 取得進展
• make an appointment — “Please make an appointment with HR.” 預約
• make an effort — “Please make an effort to be on time.” 努力
• make a difference — “Your feedback makes a difference.” 帶來改變
• make a suggestion — “May I make a suggestion?” 提建議
• make a profit — “The store made a profit last quarter.” 獲利
• make sense — “That answer makes sense.” 合理
• make a promise — “I made a promise to deliver by Monday.” 承諾
• make an offer — “They made an offer of 60K NT.” 出價
• make a noise — “The printer is making a strange noise.” 製造噪音
• make friends — “It’s easy to make friends in the cohort.” 交朋友
• make a reservation — “I’ll make a reservation at the restaurant.” 訂位
• make a complaint — “The customer made a complaint.” 投訴
• make a fortune — “He made a fortune in semiconductors.” 賺大錢
• make the bed — “Make the bed before you leave.” 鋪床

20 Essential DO Collocations | 20 個必背 Do 搭配詞

Now the do side. Notice how many of these are routines, jobs, or activities — the “perform” category from the core rule above.

• do business — “It’s a pleasure to do business with you.” 做生意
• làm bài tập về nhà — “My daughter is doing her homework.” 做作業
• do the dishes — “I’ll do the dishes after dinner.” 洗碗
• do the laundry — “I do the laundry on Sundays.” 洗衣服
• do exercise — “I do exercise three times a week.” 運動
• do research — “We did research on the competition.” 做研究
• do your best — “Just do your best in the interview.” 盡力
• do a favor — “Could you do me a favor?” 幫忙
• do a job — “You did a great job on the slides.” 做得好
• do harm — “It won’t do any harm to ask.” 造成傷害
• do damage — “The typhoon did serious damage.” 造成損害
• do the shopping — “I’ll do the shopping on Saturday.” 購物
• do your hair — “She is doing her hair upstairs.” 整理頭髮
• do your makeup — “Give me five minutes to do my makeup.” 化妝
• do the cooking — “My husband does the cooking on weekends.” 煮飯
• do an exam — “I have to do the TOEIC exam next month.” 考試
• do a course — “She did a course in data analytics.” 上課程
• do paperwork — “I hate doing paperwork.” 處理文件
• do the gardening — “He does the gardening on Sundays.” 整理花園
• do good — “The donation will do a lot of good.” 行善

Business Email Examples | 商業英文 Email 範例

These collocations appear constantly in business email. Notice how natural they sound in real workplace context.

Hi James,
I wanted to make an appointment with your team next week to discuss the Q3 numbers. Before the meeting, could you do me a favor and send over the latest sales report? We need to đưa ra quyết định about the Taipei expansion soon, and I want to make sure everyone is aligned. Please let me know what time works.
Best, Jenny

One short paragraph, four collocations (英文搭配詞), all sounding natural. If Jenny had written “do an appointment,” “make a favor,” or “do a decision,” the email would immediately read as non-native (聽起來不像母語人士). This is the practical reason collocations matter — they signal fluency without changing your underlying message.

Tricky Cases Where Both Feel Right | 容易混淆的例外情況

A few pairs break the core rule and need to be memorised as exceptions.

Make the bed (not do the bed) | 鋪床用 Make

You are not creating a new bed, but English still uses make. Think of it as making the bed look ready for sleep — you are producing a tidy state.

Do your homework vs make a plan | 兩種任務不同動詞

Both are tasks, but homework is a routine school activity (do) while a plan is a new creation (make). When the noun describes a fixed routine, use do; when it describes a created outcome, use make.

Make money vs do business | 賺錢與做生意

You make money (money is being created in your account) but do business (business is an ongoing activity). This pair trips up almost every Taiwanese learner because Chinese uses 做 for both 賺錢 and 做生意 contextually.

Quick Self-Test | 快速測驗：你會嗎？

Fill in make hoặc do. Answers are at the bottom — try not to peek.

1. I need to ____ a phone call before the meeting.
2. Could you ____ me a favor and email the file?
3. We are ____ good progress on the project.
4. Please ____ the dishes after dinner.
5. She ____ a fortune in the stock market last year.
6. I always ____ exercise before work.
7. Let’s ____ an appointment for next Tuesday.
8. It’s a pleasure to ____ business with you.
9. Don’t worry, you didn’t ____ any mistake.
10. I hate ____ paperwork on Fridays.

Answers: 1. make, 2. do, 3. making, 4. do, 5. made, 6. do, 7. make, 8. do, 9. make, 10. doing. If you got 8 or more correct, your make/do instinct is solid. If you missed 3 or more, focus on the 40 pairs above as fixed chunks rather than trying to derive each one from the rule.

How to Practice This Week | 本週練習方法

Reading lists do not stick. To actually internalise these collocations, you need active production. Try this three-day routine.

Day 1: Write three emails using 10 collocations | 第一天：寫三封 email

Pick a real work scenario — scheduling a meeting, following up on a delayed report, responding to a customer complaint. Force yourself to use at least 10 of the 40 collocations naturally. Send them to a colleague or read them aloud.

Day 2: Read a Reuters or BBC business article | 第二天：閱讀英文商業新聞

Highlight every make and do collocation you see. You will quickly notice patterns: đưa ra quyết định, make progress, do business, do research appear constantly. This trains your eye to recognise the pairings as fixed chunks.

Day 3: Self-test and re-take | 第三天：再做測驗

Come back to the 10-question test above and try it again without looking. If you still miss the same items, write those specific collocations on a sticky note and put them on your monitor for the week. Spaced repetition beats memorisation marathons.

The Bigger Picture | 更宏觀的英文學習思維

Make vs do is not the only collocation set Taiwanese professionals stumble on. Take vs have (拿與有), get vs become (取得與成為), say vs tell (說與告訴) — all of these follow the same principle: English binds verbs to specific nouns in patterns that do not map cleanly onto Chinese. The fix is always the same. Stop translating from Chinese verb by verb. Start collecting English collocations as whole units. Over six months of consistent reading and active writing, your output will start to sound native without you noticing the shift.

For Taiwan professionals (台灣上班族) targeting TOEIC 800+ or preparing for international meetings (國際會議), this kind of collocation work delivers more practical gain per hour than studying tenses or memorising long word lists. It is the difference between English that is correct and English that sounds right (聽起來自然).

Sources | 參考資料

• Từ điển Cambridge — authoritative collocation entries and example sentences
• Hội đồng Anh — ESL learning resources for international English learners
• Wikipedia: Collocation — linguistic background on word pairing in English
• Oxford Collocations Dictionary on Amazon — the gold-standard reference for English collocations