Words that are easily confused: Look, See, Watch


Which verb should I use?  Look, see or watch?


These words have similar, but different meanings. 

Here are the main differences:
SEE = Notice something with your eyes.
LOOK AT = Direct your eyes at something and pay attention to it.
WATCH = Looking at something for a (usually long) period of time, usually something that is changing or moving (or something that you expect to change or move).

Here are some special cases to remember:

We use SEE for sports, films, theatre and dramas.
We WATCH television.

We use SEE to focus on what we noticed.  We use WATCH or LOOK AT when we want to focus on the process of observing.  We could SEE something without planning to.

For more information, check out the link below:

Link to a Cambridge Dictionary article about this topic

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