put someone up

Meaning

To let someone stay at your home temporarily, usually for a night or a few days. It is a warm, casual phrasal verb used when offering or receiving free accommodation from friends or family.

Examples

• If you're visiting Chicago next month, I can easily put you up for a few nights.

  If you're visiting Chicago next month, I can easily put you up for a few nights.

• My cousin offered to put us up so we wouldn't have to pay for a hotel.

  My cousin offered to put us up so we wouldn't have to pay for a hotel.

• Thanks for putting me up on such short notice; I really appreciate your hospitality.

  Thanks for putting me up on such short notice; I really appreciate your hospitality.

• We can't put anyone up right now because our spare room is being renovated.

  We can't put anyone up right now because our spare room is being renovated.

• She was kind enough to put up three of the band members during the festival.

  She was kind enough to put up three of the band members during the festival.

Common Mistakes

• ✗ Can you put up me for tonight?

  ✓ Can you put me up for tonight?

  'Put up' is a separable phrasal verb. When the object is a pronoun (like 'me', 'us', or 'him'), it must go between 'put' and 'up'.

• ✗ I stayed at a hotel because my friend couldn't put me down.

  ✓ I stayed at a hotel because my friend couldn't put me up.

  'Put someone down' means to insult someone or to euthanize an animal. To host someone, you must use 'put someone up'.

Related Expressions

Practice

• Don't worry about booking a hotel; we can ___ for the weekend.

  💡 host you at our place

  Show answer

  put you up

• He asked if I could ___ while he was in town for the conference.

  💡 let him stay with me

  Show answer

  put him up