spend

Compared meaning: to pay out money or use up effort (verb).

比较义项：花费（金钱、精力等）（动词）。

• spend 本词

  The everyday, neutral word for paying out money (or using time); works in casual speech and writing, and collocates freely with amounts and purposes.

  日常、中性的说法，用来表示花钱（或花费时间）；口语和书面语都常用，能自由搭配具体金额和用途。

  We spend around three hundred dollars a month on groceries.

  我们每个月大约花三百美元买食品杂货。

• expend

  A more formal, often written word, common in financial reports or effort/energy contexts; sounds stiff or overly formal for ordinary everyday spending.

  更正式、多用于书面语的词，常见于财务报告或体力、精力等语境；用在日常花钱的场合会显得生硬、过于正式。

  The department had already expended its entire annual budget by June.

  该部门到六月就已经花光了全年的预算。

Spend and expend both mean paying out money or effort, but differ in style. Spend is everyday and neutral, used for money or time. Expend is more formal, common in financial reports. Spend meaning to pass time, like 'spend a weekend', is not compared here.

这两个词在“花费”这个意义上很接近，但语体和搭配不同：spend 是日常口语中最常用的说法，可用于金钱、时间等；expend 更正式、书面化，常见于财务报告或体力、精力等语境，日常口语中较少用来说花钱。这里不比较 spend 表示“度过（时间）”的用法（如 spend a weekend）。

Compared meaning: to spend or use a period of time (verb).

比较义项：度过（时间）（动词）。

• spend 本词

  The everyday, neutral word for using a period of time on an activity; combines freely with any span of time (weekends, years, spare time) and any activity, with no hint of boredom or waiting.

  更日常、更中性的说法，表示把一段时间用在某项活动上；可以自由搭配任何时间段（如大多数周末、所有闲暇时间、若干年）和任何活动，不带无聊或等待的意味。

  She spends all her spare time restoring old motorbikes in the garage.

  她把所有的闲暇时间都花在车库里修复旧摩托车上。

• pass

  More formal or literary; usually takes a specific, bounded stretch of time as its object (an evening, the afternoon, the time) and often suggests getting through a slow or boring period.

  更正式或文学化的说法，通常需要一个具体、有限的时间段作宾语（如一个晚上、一个下午、这段时间），常暗示熬过一段缓慢或无聊的时光，而不是积极地投入其中。

  The sailors passed the long, quiet evenings mending nets and telling stories.

  水手们靠补渔网、讲故事来打发漫长而安静的夜晚。

Spend and pass both mean to use a period of time. Spend is the everyday, neutral word, used with any span of time and any activity. Pass is more formal, taking a specific stretch of time, like an evening, and suggests a slow, boring period.

spend 和 pass 在“度过（时间）”这一义项上意思相近，容易混淆，但 spend 更常用、更中性，几乎可以搭配任何时间段和活动；pass 语气更正式，往往指熬过某段具体、有限的时光，隐含打发无聊或等待的意味。这里不比较 pass 的“传递”“通过（考试、法案）”等其他义项，也不比较 spend 的“花钱”之义。