What’s the difference between experience and experiment?

This week we are looking at two words which are sometimes confused by learners of English: experience and experiment.

experience

An experience is something that happens to you or something that you do.

Moving house can be a stressful experience.

If you have experience of something, you have seen it, done it, or felt it.

Do you have any teaching experience?

I’ve had no experience of running a business.

You say that someone has an experience.

I had a strange experience last night.

Be careful! Don’t say that someone ‘makes an experience.’

experiment

Use experiment to refer to a scientific test that is carried out in order to discover or prove something.

Laboratory experiments show that Vitamin D may slow cancer growth.

Try it out in an experiment.

You usually say that someone does, conducts, or carries out an experiment.

We decided to do an experiment.

Several experiments were conducted at the University of Zurich.

Be careful! Don’t say that someone ‘makes an experiment.’

Find out more in our English Usage article.

This blogpost is based on Collins COBUILD English Usage, written for learners of English. For more examples of English usage points, please visit:  https://grammar.collinsdictionary.com/english-usage.

All opinions expressed on this blog are those of the individual writers, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or policies of Collins, or its parent company, HarperCollins.

Related Articles

Other Articles

Using semicolons

The semicolon is used to mark a break between two main clauses when there is a balance or a contrast between the clauses. Compare: The engine roared into life. The propellers began to turn. The plane taxied down the runway ready for takeoff. with: The engine roared into life; the propellers… Read More

Using bullet points

Using bullet points in a non-fiction text is a clear way to organize information you wish to present. The types of text that are suitable for bullet points are lists, notes, instructions, and information texts. To use bullet points correctly, there needs to be a piece of introductory text, ending… Read More

The 8 parts of speech in English

VERBS A verb tells us about an action or a state of being. Ordinary verbs are called main verbs. For example: come, go, think, want, escape, believe. A main verb is sometimes called a ‘doing word’. A special group of verbs are called auxiliary verbs. These can be put together with main verbs to… Read More