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TOEIC Link Part 5: expand versus expend

Expand means to grow larger or increase in size; expend means to spend or use up a resource such as money, energy, or effort. The two verbs differ by one letter and both appear in business contexts, so Part 5 uses them as distractors. Check whether the sentence is about getting bigger or about using something up.

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TOEIC Link Part 5: expand versus expend

Expand and expend differ by a single letter and both belong to the language of business, so Part 5 sets them against each other and waits for a hurried reader to grab the wrong one. The split is clean: expand means to grow larger, and expend means to spend or use up. Decide whether the sentence is about something increasing in size or about a resource being consumed, and the answer follows. For another pair that turns on a small structural signal, see comprise versus compose.

The core rule: grow larger versus use up

  • expand (verb) = to grow larger, to increase in size, scope, or number. The company plans to expand into three new markets. / Heat causes the metal to expand. It can be intransitive (the business expanded) or transitive (they expanded the facility).
  • expend (verb) = to spend or use up a resource — money, energy, time, or effort. They expended considerable resources on the launch. / Do not expend energy on tasks the system can automate. It is transitive and almost always takes an object naming the resource.

The memory hook: expand shares its core with expansion — think of something spreading out and getting bigger. Expend shares its core with expenditure and expense — think of spending, of a resource going down.

Why Part 5 likes this pair

The blank is a verb slot, and both forms fit the grammar. Only the meaning — growth versus consumption — decides it.

The firm intends to __ its distribution network across the region.

The network is getting bigger, so the answer is expand.

The team __ months of effort preparing the proposal.

Effort was used up, so the answer is expended.

Spotting the clue in the structure

Look at the object of the verb, if there is one:

  • The object is a business, market, facility, or capacity that becomes larger → choose expand (They expanded the warehouse to double its capacity.).
  • The object is a resource — money, energy, effort, time, fuel → choose expend (The project expended most of the annual budget.).
  • If there is no object and the subject simply grows, the answer is expand (Sales expanded rapidly last quarter.); expend rarely appears without an object.

If the sentence describes something becoming bigger or reaching further, choose expand; if it describes a resource being spent or consumed, choose expend. For another pair where one verb takes a resource as its object, see raise versus rise.

Quick self-check

  1. The startup hopes to __ its team from ten to fifty employees this year. (expand — the team grows larger)
  2. Managers should not __ scarce funds on low-priority initiatives. (expend — funds are a resource being used up)

Takeaway

If the sentence is about growing larger or reaching further, choose expand and recall expansion. If it is about a resource — money, energy, effort, time — being spent or used up, choose expend and recall expenditure. The single letter that separates them maps to a clean difference in meaning, so let the context decide before the spelling fools you.