What’s the difference between clean out, clean off, clean up and clean away

When you talk about cleaning something it could either be the actual space or the mess/dirt in a space. In this English lesson you will learn different phrases used to talk about this.

English learners while speaking English make a  common mistake while using these phrases (clean out, clean off, clean up and clean away)They think that they can use them  interchangeably , that’s what we will correct today.

Clean out – to clean the inside of a space

• I need to Clean out the cupboard (inside of the cupboard)
• Please clean out the car (inside of the car)
• The drawer is dirty we need to clean out the drawer (inside of the drawer)

Clean off – used to talk about cleaning a flat surface

• We need to clean off the table since we have guests coming home (A Table is a flat surface)
• Please clean off the TV screen.(flat surface)
• Clean off the glass of the window (the window is a flat surface)

Clean up – to clean a room or a large space

• We should clean up the kitchen today, since it has been a long time.
• Lets Clean up the staircase
• The cleaner needs to Clean up the playground so that the kids can play happily.(large space)

Clean away – talks about cleaning the mess in a space

• Hey let’s clean away the mess.
• My mom will clean away the broken pieces on the floor.
• Please clean away the liquid on the ground.

We hope this English lesson has helped you a lot. Going forth you can use these phrases in order to talk about cleaning in your daily conversation.