toll booth

Meaning

A small shelter or kiosk on a highway or bridge where drivers stop to pay a fee (toll) to use the road. While many are now automated, some still have attendants or coin-drop machines.

Examples

• We need to make sure we have some cash in case the next toll booth doesn't accept cards.

  We need to make sure we have some cash in case the next toll booth doesn't accept cards.

• Traffic slowed down significantly as we approached the toll booth on the bridge.

  Traffic slowed down significantly as we approached the toll booth on the bridge.

• You can drive straight through the toll booth if you have an electronic pass.

  You can drive straight through the toll booth if you have an electronic pass.

• The rental car company charged us an extra fee for passing through a toll booth without a transponder.

  The rental car company charged us an extra fee for passing through a toll booth without a transponder.

• He stopped at the toll booth to ask the operator for directions to the national park.

  He stopped at the toll booth to ask the operator for directions to the national park.

Common Mistakes

• ✗ We had to pay money at the road tax cabin.

  ✓ We had to pay money at the toll booth.

  The correct term for the physical structure where you pay to use a road is a 'toll booth' (or 'toll plaza' for a larger collection of booths), not 'road tax cabin'.

• ✗ I paid the toll fee at the gate of toll.

  ✓ I paid the toll fee at the toll booth.

  In English, we say 'toll booth' or 'toll gate', not 'gate of toll'.

Related Expressions

Practice

• Keep some loose change in the cup holder so you can pay quickly at the ___.

  💡 The small kiosk on a highway where you pay road fees.

  Show answer

  toll booth

• There was a long line of cars at the ___ because the credit card reader was broken.

  💡 The structure where road tolls are collected.

  Show answer

  toll booth