Complete List of Prepositions in English with Their Types

September 15, 2026 12 min read By @engrdu

Prepositions are words that show relationships between people, places, things, actions, and ideas. They help express time, place, position, direction, movement, cause, purpose, comparison, and connection in English sentences. Common prepositions such as in, on, at, by, for, from, to, with, and under appear frequently in everyday English, while compound and less common forms occur in formal, academic, and written communication. Learning prepositions by their functions and usage patterns helps ESL students understand sentence structure, improve accuracy, and communicate more naturally.

What Is a Preposition?

A preposition is a word or group of words that connects a noun, pronoun, or noun phrase to another part of a sentence.

Prepositions can express relationships involving time, place, position, direction, movement, cause, possession, comparison, connection, and purpose.

Common examples include at, by, for, from, in, of, on, to, under, with, and without.

A preposition is often followed by a noun phrase called its object.

Basic Preposition Structure

Pattern	Structure	Function
Place	preposition + noun	location
Time	preposition + noun	time relationship
Direction	preposition + noun	movement
Cause	preposition + noun	reason
Purpose	preposition + noun	intended result
Relationship	preposition + noun	connection

Common Prepositions List

These are among the most frequently encountered English prepositions in everyday speaking, reading, and writing.

Common Prepositions	Common Prepositions	Common Prepositions
aboard	about	above
across	after	against
along	among	around
at	before	behind
below	beneath	beside
besides	between	beyond
by	concerning	despite
down	during	except
for	from	in
inside	into	like
near	of	off
on	onto	opposite
out	outside	over
past	since	through
throughout	till	to
toward	under	underneath
until	up	upon
with	within	without
worth	via	regarding

Types of Prepositions List with Words

English prepositions can be grouped according to the relationship they express. A single preposition may belong to more than one category depending on how it is used.

Simple Prepositions

Simple prepositions are generally single-word forms.

Simple Prepositions	Simple Prepositions	Simple Prepositions
about	above	across
after	against	along
amid	among	around
at	before	behind
below	beneath	beside
between	beyond	by
despite	down	during
except	for	from
in	inside	into
like	near	of
off	on	onto
opposite	out	over
past	per	since
through	till	to
toward	under	until
up	upon	with
within	without	worth

Compound Prepositions

Compound prepositions consist of more than one word and function together as a prepositional unit.

Compound Prepositions	Compound Prepositions	Compound Prepositions
according to	ahead of	along with
apart from	as for	as of
as per	as to	aside from
away from	because of	by means of
by way of	close to	contrary to
due to	except for	far from
in addition to	in front of	in place of
in spite of	instead of	next to
on account of	on behalf of	on top of
out of	owing to	prior to
pursuant to	regardless of	relative to
thanks to	together with	up to
with regard to	with respect to	with reference to

Prepositions of Time

Prepositions of time show when something happens or how events relate to a period.

Prepositions of Time	Prepositions of Time	Prepositions of Time
at	on	in
before	after	during
since	for	until
till	by	from
throughout	within	around
about	past	prior to
following	subsequent to	pending
throughout	amid	aboard

Common Time Patterns:

At is commonly associated with specific clock times and certain fixed time expressions.
On commonly connects with days and dates.
In commonly connects with months, years, seasons, centuries, and longer periods.
Since identifies a starting point, while for identifies a duration.
By indicates a deadline or latest time.
Until and till indicate the point up to which something continues.

Prepositions of Place and Position

These prepositions describe where a person, object, or event is located.

Prepositions of Place	Prepositions of Place	Prepositions of Place
at	in	on
above	over	below
under	beneath	underneath
behind	beside	near
between	among	around
inside	outside	within
opposite	across	beyond
against	alongside	amid
amidst	atop	aboard
next to	close to	in front of
on top of	out of	away from

Prepositions of Direction and Movement

Direction and movement prepositions describe where someone or something moves.

Direction and Movement	Direction and Movement	Direction and Movement
to	toward	towards
into	onto	through
across	along	around
past	over	under
up	down	from
out of	away from	off
toward	aboard	beyond
alongside	across from	in through
up to	down from	out through
into	onto	around

Prepositions of Cause, Reason, and Purpose

These forms connect an action or situation with its reason, cause, purpose, or intended result.

Cause, Reason, Purpose	Cause, Reason, Purpose	Cause, Reason, Purpose
because of	due to	owing to
on account of	for	through
from	out of	by
thanks to	for the sake of	in aid of
in pursuit of	in search of	for fear of
for lack of	for want of	with a view to
in order to	on behalf of	by means of

Prepositions of Comparison and Contrast

Some prepositions express comparison, difference, opposition, or contrast.

Comparison and Contrast	Comparison and Contrast	Comparison and Contrast
like	unlike	than
against	versus	vis-à-vis
contrary to	compared with	compared to
in contrast to	in contrast with	opposite
opposed to	different from	distinct from
similar to	relative to	in comparison with
as against	as compared with	in opposition to

Prepositions of Cause, Association, and Relationship

English also uses prepositions to connect people, things, subjects, and circumstances.

Relationship Prepositions	Relationship Prepositions	Relationship Prepositions
about	concerning	regarding
respecting	relating to	pertaining to
concerning	of	with
without	among	between
alongside	beside	against
with regard to	with respect to	in relation to
in connection with	in association with	in contact with
in reference to	with reference to	in terms of

Compound and Multiword Prepositions

Multiword prepositions contain two or more words that function together as a prepositional unit. They are common in formal writing, academic English, business communication, and everyday speech.

Multiword Prepositions	Multiword Prepositions	Multiword Prepositions
according to	ahead of	along with
apart from	as for	as of
as per	as to	aside from
away from	because of	by means of
by way of	by virtue of	close to
contrary to	due to	except for
far from	in addition to	in accordance with
in aid of	in behalf of	in case of
in charge of	in comparison with	in connection with
in consequence of	in contrast to	in contrast with
in exchange for	in favor of	in front of
in lieu of	in line with	in place of
in relation to	in respect of	in response to
in search of	in spite of	in terms of
in view of	next to	on account of
on behalf of	on board	on top of
out of	owing to	prior to
pursuant to	regardless of	relative to
subsequent to	thanks to	together with
up to	with regard to	with respect to
with reference to	with a view to	with the exception of

Advanced, Rare, and Unusual Prepositions

Advanced English includes formal, literary, archaic, legal, and specialized prepositional forms. Some are uncommon in everyday conversation but may appear in historical texts, legal documents, academic writing, or formal prose.

Advanced Prepositions	Advanced Prepositions	Advanced Prepositions
amid	amidst	amongst
astride	athwart	barring
circa	concerning	considering
ere	failing	notwithstanding
pending	per	qua
re	regarding	respecting
sans	save	touching
unto	vis-à-vis	worth
notwithstanding	consequent upon	contingent upon
preparatory to	pursuant to	subsequent to
relative to	irrespective of	exclusive of
inclusive of	independent of	devoid of
cognizant of	commensurate with	concomitant with
consequent on	concurrent with	conditional on
consistent with	contrary to	detrimental to
exempt from	external to	proximate to
referable to	responsive to	resultant from

Prepositions Used in Formal and Academic English

Formal English often uses longer prepositional expressions where everyday English may use shorter alternatives.

Formal Prepositions	Formal Prepositions	Formal Prepositions
according to	concerning	regarding
with regard to	with respect to	in relation to
in accordance with	in connection with	in comparison with
in contrast to	in contrast with	in consequence of
in consideration of	in response to	in addition to
in accordance with	pursuant to	prior to
subsequent to	irrespective of	regardless of
by means of	by virtue of	on behalf of
in lieu of	in view of	with reference to

Prepositions Used in Legal and Official English

Legal and official writing contains many formal prepositional phrases that are less frequent in ordinary conversation.

Legal and Official Forms	Legal and Official Forms	Legal and Official Forms
pursuant to	in accordance with	in respect of
with regard to	with reference to	notwithstanding
subject to	in lieu of	on behalf of
by virtue of	by reason of	by order of
in consequence of	in connection with	subsequent to
prior to	pursuant to	pending
exclusive of	inclusive of	irrespective of
contingent upon	conditional upon	in consideration of

Prepositions Used for Possession and Association

Some prepositions help express ownership, connection, membership, association, or belonging.

Possession and Association	Possession and Association	Possession and Association
of	with	to
by	among	between
belonging to	associated with	connected with
related to	affiliated with	linked to
in possession of	in ownership of	on behalf of

Prepositions Used with Pronouns

Prepositions can be followed by object pronouns rather than subject pronouns.

Subject Pronouns	Object Pronouns	Preposition
I	me	with
he	him	for
she	her	to
we	us	among
they	them	between
you	you	beside
it	it	against

Preposition + Noun Patterns

Many common English expressions follow predictable preposition patterns.

Pattern	Pattern	Pattern
at home	at school	at work
in bed	in class	in town
on time	on duty	on purpose
by hand	by chance	by mistake
for sale	for example	for sure
in advance	in detail	in general
under pressure	under control	under construction
out of order	out of stock	out of date
on behalf of	in front of	next to

Preposition + Gerund

When a preposition is followed by a verb, the verb normally appears in the -ing form.

Preposition	Preposition + Gerund	Preposition
after	after leaving	before
before	before starting	by
by	by practicing	without
without	without asking	instead of
instead of	instead of waiting	about
about	about changing	for
for	for helping	in
in	in learning	on
on	on arriving	despite
despite	despite knowing	upon
upon	upon entering

Prepositions Followed by Nouns or Pronouns

A preposition generally introduces a noun phrase, pronoun, or another structure that functions as its object.

Preposition	Noun	Pronoun
with	friends	them
for	students	us
to	school	her
from	London	him
beside	the door	me
between	two houses	them
among	classmates	us
against	the wall	it
without	money	it
about	the problem	it

Preposition Confusions and Common Mistakes

English learners often confuse prepositions because different languages organize time, place, and movement relationships differently.

In generally refers to an enclosed place or broader period; on commonly refers to surfaces, days, and dates.
At often points to a specific place or time, while in usually refers to a larger area or period.
Between commonly relates to two distinct people or things; among is generally used within a group.
Since normally introduces a starting point in time; for normally introduces a period of duration.
Into expresses movement toward the inside; in generally describes position rather than movement.

Prepositions in Sentences

Prepositions become easier to understand when their grammatical role is visible in complete sentences.

The books are on the table.
She arrived at noon.
We live in Pakistan.
The children walked through the park.
He moved from Lahore.
They traveled to Islamabad.
The cat jumped onto the chair.
The school is near the library.
She stood between her friends.
The teacher walked among the students.
We stayed home because of the rain.
He completed the work without help.
They left after lunch.
She arrived before sunset.
He has worked here since 2020.
We waited for two hours.
The letter was written by Ali.
She went with her brother.
The shop is opposite the bank.
He walked along the road.

Preposition Pronunciation

Most common prepositions are pronounced in a straightforward way, but some formal or less familiar forms can be difficult for ESL learners.

Preposition	Pronunciation
about	uh-BOUT
above	uh-BUV
across	uh-KROSS
against	uh-GENST
among	uh-MUNG
beneath	bih-NEETH
beside	bih-SIDE
between	bih-TWEEN
concerning	kuhn-SUR-ning
despite	dih-SPITE
during	DYOOR-ing
except	ik-SEPT
throughout	throo-OUT
toward	tuh-WAWRD
underneath	un-der-NEETH
via	VY-uh / VEE-uh
versus	VUR-sus
vis-à-vis	VEE-zah-VEE

Quick Preposition Reference List A-Z

For quick revision, these are some of the highest-frequency prepositions English learners should recognize first.

A: aboard, about, above, across, after, against, along, alongside, amid, amidst, among, amongst, around, as, astride, atop
B: barring, before, behind, below, beneath, beside, besides, between, beyond, but, by
C: circa, concerning, considering, counting
D: despite, down, during
E: except, excepting, excluding, ere
F: failing, following, for, from
G: given, granted
I: in, including, inside, into
L: lacking, less, like
M: minus, mid, midst
N: near, notwithstanding
O: of, off, on, onto, opposite, out, outside, over, owing to
P: past, pending, per, plus, pro
Q: qua
R: re, regarding, respecting, round
S: save, sans, since
T: than, through, throughout, till, to, toward, towards, touching
U: under, underneath, until, unto, upon, up
V: versus, via, vis-à-vis
W: with, within, without, worth

Note: English does not have widely recognized standard prepositions beginning with H, J, K, X, Y, and Z. These letters have few or no words that function as standard prepositions in modern English.

FAQs

What Is a Preposition?

A preposition is a word or phrase that connects a noun, pronoun, or noun phrase to another part of a sentence.

What Are the Most Common Prepositions in English?

The most common prepositions include in, on, at, by, for, from, to, with, of, about, under, over, and between.

How Many Prepositions Are There in English?

English has hundreds of prepositional words and multiword expressions, although the exact number varies according to grammar sources and classification.

What Are the Four Main Types of Prepositions?

Common categories include prepositions of time, place, direction or movement, and cause or purpose, with additional relationship categories.

What Is the Difference Between In, On, and At?

In commonly refers to broader periods or enclosed areas, on to surfaces or dates, and at to specific points.

What Are Compound Prepositions?

Compound prepositions are groups of words that function as one prepositional unit, such as because of, in front of, and according to.

Which Prepositions Are Used for Time?

Common time prepositions include at, on, in, before, after, during, since, for, by, until, till, and throughout.

Can a Preposition Be More Than One Word?

Yes. Multiword prepositions such as in spite of, on behalf of, in front of, and with regard to function as prepositional units.

Conclusion

This List of Prepositions covers common, compound, advanced, rare, unusual, formal, and multiword prepositions from A to Z. Learning them by time, place, direction, movement, cause, comparison, and relationship makes their patterns easier to recognize and use correctly.

Sharing is Caring

Written by