1 A2 neutral
To dress oneself in a piece of clothing or accessory.
"Put on your jacket — it's freezing outside."
separable
put on
A2 neutral separable transitive
To place clothing or an accessory on your body; to activate a device; to perform or stage something; to pretend or feign.
In plain English
To dress yourself or start something playing; also to act as if you feel something you don't really feel.
What does "put on" mean?
5 meanings, ordered from most common to least. Color-coded by CEFR level.
2 A2 neutral
To start playing music, a film, or a recording device.
"He put on some jazz while we cooked dinner."
separable
3 B1 neutral
To organize or stage a performance, event, or show.
"The drama club put on an incredible production of Hamlet last year."
separable
4 B1 idiomatic informal
To pretend or fake an emotion, accent, or manner of behaving.
"She's not really hurt — she's just putting it on to get attention."
separable
5 B1 idiomatic neutral
To gain weight.
"I always put on a few kilos over the Christmas holidays."
separable
Literal vs figurative
Words literally mean
To place something on top of something else — transparent in the clothing sense.
Actually means
To dress yourself or start something playing; also to act as if you feel something you don't really feel.
Usage tip
Extremely common and versatile. Separable: 'put on your coat' or 'put your coat on.' In the pretending sense, 'she's putting it on' is very common in British English. Also used for gaining weight: 'put on weight.'
Words that pair with "put on"
Natural word combinations native speakers use most often.
coat weight show accent music kettle
How to conjugate "put on"
The five tense forms you'll use most often.
Base
put on
I/you/we/they
3rd person
puts on
he/she/it
Past simple
put on
yesterday
Past participle
put on
have + pp
-ing form
putting on
continuous
Hear "put on" in the wild
Listen to native speakers using "put on" in real YouTube videos — click a clip to watch it on Looplines.
Other ways to say "put on"
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Keep exploring
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