To and for are some of the most common prepositions in English—you see them everywhere, in almost every sentence. That’s what makes it so frustrating to get them mixed up; after all, the for and to difference isn’t exactly easy to understand. Word pairings that use to: access to addiction/addicted to attraction/attracted to change to contribute to dedicate/dedication to new to react/reaction to refer/reference to respond/response to threat to transition to to some extent to [someone’s] surprise to [someone’s] face to this day Common phrasal verbs with to: get around to get down to get to look up to see to Word pairings that use for advertise/advertisement for approval for argue/argument for care for cure for hunger/hungry for pay for recipe for room for search for study for talent for thirst/thirsty for for a living for a while for free for good for now for sale for starters for sure for the best for the record for the time being Common phrasal verbs with for: go for look for look / watch out for