payoff

Compared meaning: something gained in return for effort (noun).

比较义项：报酬、奖赏（名词）。

• reward

  Reward suggests something a person or institution deliberately gives you—money, a prize, or praise—for good behavior or work; common in everyday, encouraging contexts.

  reward指某人或机构因你表现良好或完成工作而主动给予的具体东西——金钱、奖品或称赞；常用于日常、带有鼓励意味的语境中。

  The teacher gave a small reward for finishing homework early.

  老师给提前完成作业的学生发了一份小奖励。

• payoff 本词

  Payoff refers to the benefit or return that results from effort, time, or investment, rather than something a person hands you directly; often financial or figurative, and more informal in tone.

  payoff指因努力、时间或投入而带来的收益或回报，并非某人直接给予；常指经济上的回报，也可用于比喻意义，语气更为非正式。

  The long hours of studying finally had a payoff on exam day.

  长时间的学习终于在考试当天带来了回报。

Both words can mean something gained in return. Reward suggests something a person or institution gives you on purpose, like money or praise, for good work. Payoff means the benefit that comes from effort or investment, not something handed to you directly.

这两个词在“报酬”这一义项上意思相近，但reward强调他人（如老师、雇主）因你表现良好或完成工作而主动给予的具体奖赏，语气日常、正面；payoff强调努力、投入或耐心所带来的回报或成果，未必由某人直接给予，语气更偏非正式，常见于谈论成效的场合。这里不比较payoff在其他语境中可能带有的“贿赂款”等引申义。

Compared meaning: profit or benefit from investment or effort (noun).

比较义项：投资或努力带来的回报、收益（名词）。

• return

  General, common word for the profit or benefit gained from an investment or effort; often used in the phrase 'return on investment', and can mean either a lump sum or a rate.

  通用、常见的词，指从投资或努力中获得的利润或收益；常用于“return on investment（投资回报）”这一短语中，既可以指一笔总金额，也可以指一个比率。

  Real estate can offer a better return than a regular savings account.

  房地产投资往往比普通储蓄账户带来更好的回报。

• yield

  More technical and formal; specifically the rate of profit or income that an investment produces, expressed as a percentage, common in finance for bonds, stocks and savings.

  更具技术性、更正式，特指投资产生的收益率，以百分比表示，常用于债券、股票和储蓄等金融语境。

  Investors were pleased with the high yield on their bond portfolio.

  投资者对他们债券投资组合的高收益率感到满意。

• payoff 本词

  Informal, everyday word for the reward or benefit that comes after effort, risk or time invested; not necessarily financial, and often used about personal achievement.

  非正式、日常用词，指经过努力、冒险或时间投入后获得的回报；不一定是金钱上的，常用于个人成就方面。

  All those years of hard work finally had a payoff when she got promoted.

  多年的辛苦努力终于在她获得晋升时得到了回报。

Return, yield and payoff all mean a benefit from investment or effort. Return is the general word for investment profit. Yield is technical, an investment's rate of income. Payoff is informal, a reward after effort or risk, not always money. Other meanings are not compared.

这三个词都可以表示“回报”或“收益”，但 return 泛指从投资或努力中获得的收益，yield 更强调投资的收益率，常用于债券、股息等正式金融语境，而 payoff 强调经过努力或冒险后最终得到的回报，不一定是金钱。这里不比较 return 的“归还”义、yield 的“产量”或“屈服”义，以及 payoff 在其他语境中的“贿赂”义。