Apples and Oranges

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🗓️ Idiom: Apples and Oranges (n)

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💬 Meaning

• Two things that are very different and cannot be fairly compared.
• A situation where people try to compare things that don’t match.

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🧠 Example Sentences

• Comparing the UK and Thailand business systems is like comparing apples and oranges.
• Marketing in Asia and Europe is apples and oranges. You need different strategies.
• You can’t compare a start-up to a global company. That’s apples and oranges.

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🏛️ Origin

This idiom likely comes from the idea that apples and oranges are both fruit but have different tastes, shapes, and textures. In English, people started using it to explain why two things don’t belong in the same comparison.

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📝 Practice Exercises

1. Fill in the blank:

Trying to compare freelance work and full-time office jobs is like comparing __________.

Answer

apples and oranges

2. Choose the correct meaning of “apples and oranges”:

A) Two things that are nearly the same
B) Two things that cannot be fairly compared
C) A mix of good and bad ideas

Answer

B) Two things that cannot be fairly compared

3. Rewrite the sentence using the idiom:

“These two options are too different to compare.” → Change the sentence using: apples and oranges

Answer

These two options are like apples and oranges.

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ℹ️ Other Useful Pages

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