Put aside means to save money or time for a particular purpose. The second meaning is to set aside disagreements, hurt feelings or doubts so they don't get in the way. If the object is a pronoun, it goes in the middle: put it aside.
Want to use put aside in conversation?
Write a sentence — we'll show the mistakes right away and suggest how to say it more naturally.
The check is taking longer than usual. Your feedback will appear here automatically.
put aside + money/time (for + purpose); put it aside; put aside + differences/feelings
- My parents put aside part of their salary every month for my university fees.
- Let's put our differences aside and focus on finishing the project.
- Try to put aside twenty minutes every evening for reading in English.
What changed
First versionEvery month I put off some money for my summer holiday.
RevisionEvery month I put aside some money for my summer holiday.
Put off and put aside look alike but mean different things: put off means to postpone (put off a meeting), while put aside means to save money or time for something. This sentence is about money, so off was replaced with aside.
Put away can also mean to save money, but more often it means to put something back where it belongs: put away the dishes. For disagreements and hurt feelings, use put aside: They put aside their differences and signed the deal.
Your turn
I want to buy a new bike in spring, so I ___ twenty pounds every week.
Show the answer
put aside — You're saving up for a bike, so every week you set money aside: put aside. Put off means to postpone something, such as a meeting or a trip, and it isn't used with an amount of money.
Write about something you're saving up for now or would like to save for. Use put aside, name the amount and say when you'll need the money.
I'm putting aside 100 euros a month so I can take an English course in Malta next summer.
Learn to use new words without mistakes
Write phrases with the words you are learning. LetsWords shows mistakes in usage and grammar, suggests corrections and explains them, and review helps the words stick.