call back — return a phone call
phrasal verbB1IELTS 5+neutralcommon
to phone someone again after you missed their call or need to respond to their message.
Say it like a native
Textbook I shall return your telephone call at a later time.
Native I'll call you back later.
'Call back' is the everyday phone verb; 'return your telephone call' is stiff.
Pattern: call (someone) back
In use
- Sorry I missed your call earlier—I'll call you back after my meeting.daily life
- If I see a missed call from an unknown number, I usually don't call back unless they leave a message.IELTS speaking
Common mistake
✗ I'll call back you in five minutes.
✓ I'll call you back in five minutes.
With a pronoun, the object goes in the middle: 'call you back'.
Common collocations
call someone back— you back, later, in a minute, right back
Don't confuse it
Not the same as 'call', which means to phone someone, but not necessarily as a reply.
Related
- call back (ask someone to return) — Another meaning of 'call back' is 'ask someone to return'; compare the examples to keep the meanings separate.