Trip over means to catch your foot on something and stumble: a step, a cable, a bag. The second meaning is to stumble in speech: trip over your words, when nerves make the words come out jumbled.
Want to use trip over 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.
trip over + object; trip over + your words; trip over + a word/name
- I tripped over my suitcase in the dark hotel room and woke everyone up.
- Somebody's going to trip over that cable, so let's tape it to the floor.
- I was so nervous in the interview that I kept tripping over my words.
What changed
First versionI tripped about the cable and spilled my coffee on the keyboard.
RevisionI tripped over the cable and spilled my coffee on the keyboard.
About is for topics, as in talk about something, not for an obstacle under your feet. The thing you catch your foot on is introduced with over: trip over the cable.
Trip up means to catch someone out and make them get something wrong: The last question tripped me up. Nobody falls here; the mistake is in the answer. Fall over means to fall to the ground, often right after tripping: She tripped over a step and fell over.
Your turn
When the examiner asked my name, I was so nervous that I ___ my own surname.
Show the answer
tripped over — You stumbled while saying your surname, which is trip over a word. Tripped up means to catch someone out, and its object is a person, not a word: The question tripped me up.
Describe a small accident at home or outside. Say what you tripped over and what happened next.
Yesterday I tripped over my son's toy car in the hallway and spilled tea all over the carpet.
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.