Difficulty Collocation for IELTS: A List to Boost Your Score

Kasturika Samanta

6 min read

Updated On Nov 03, 2025

Discover difficulty collocations for IELTS and elevate your writing and speaking skills to boost your band score. This blog provides meanings, examples, and activities to help you boost precision, fluency, and IELTS vocabulary for band 7–8 success.

Lists of Difficulty Collocations for IELTS to Boost Your Score
Notes
Difficulty Collocation for IELTS: Practice Exercises
Difficulty Collocations Answer Keys for Practice Exercises

Limited-Time Offer : Access a FREE 10-Day IELTS Study Plan!

In IELTS Writing and Speaking, examiners often look for natural and topic-specific collocations, which are word combinations that native speakers commonly use together. The word ‘difficulty’ is one that appears frequently in IELTS answers, especially when discussing challenges, problems, or obstacles in life, study, or work. However, using difficulty collocations for IELTS correctly requires more than just knowing their meaning.

This blog explores powerful and precise difficulty collocations to help you express ideas more naturally and score higher in the Lexical Resource criteria for the overall IELTS band score.

Lists of Difficulty Collocations for IELTS to Boost Your Score

Using the right collocations helps you to sound more fluent and natural, avoid repetitive vocabulary like ‘problem’ or ‘issue’, convey precise shades of meaning, and demonstrate lexical flexibility and range. These are all crucial for scoring a Band 7+.

Therefore, we will explore lists of the top important collocations for IELTS related to difficulty collocations in the tables below. Each table will have the meanings and example sentences for the specific collocation of ‘difficulty’.

Verb + Difficulty Collocations

When paired with verbs, ‘difficulty’ describes how someone experiences or deals with challenges. These are very useful for IELTS Writing Task 2 (especially topics about education, society, or technology).

Verb + Difficulty	Meaning	Example Sentence
be in difficulty	to be experiencing problems or trouble	Many small businesses are in difficulty due to rising costs.
cause difficulty	to create problems for someone or something	The lack of resources can cause difficulty in implementing new policies.
foresee difficulty	to predict that problems may happen	The government failed to foresee difficulties in the healthcare plan.
get into difficulty	to start having problems	Students often get into difficulty when they don’t manage their time properly.
overcome difficulty	to successfully deal with a problem	With determination, she overcame all difficulties and achieved success.
present difficulty	to create a challenging situation	The new regulations present difficulties for international students.

Common Adjective + Difficulty Collocations

Adjective collocations describe the type or nature of the difficulty. These are excellent for expressing precise details and complexity in IELTS Writing or Speaking.

Adjective + Difficulty	Meaning	Example Sentence
current difficulty	problems happening now	The company is working hard to resolve its current difficulties.
financial difficulty	problems related to money	Many families face financial difficulties during economic recessions.
learning difficulty	problems in understanding or studying	Some children have learning difficulties that require special support.
main difficulty	the most important or biggest problem	The main difficulty was communicating with people from different cultures.
marital difficulty	problems in a marriage	They decided to attend counseling to solve their marital difficulties.
technical difficulty	a problem with equipment or technology	The online class was delayed due to technical difficulties.
unforeseen difficulty	a problem that was not expected	The project was delayed by unforeseen difficulties.
practical difficulty	problems that make something hard to do	There are several practical difficulties in implementing this idea.

Other Useful Collocations and Expressions with ‘Difficulty’

These expressions often appear in academic or formal IELTS writing, particularly in problem-solution or IELTS advantages/disadvantages essays.

Collocation/Expression	Meaning	Example Sentence
in spite of difficulty	despite facing problems	The team succeeded in spite of many difficulties.
without difficulty	easily	Most people can use this app without difficulty.
with great difficulty	after struggling a lot	She passed the exam with great difficulty.
have difficulty (in) doing something	find something hard to do	Many students have difficulty understanding academic vocabulary.
experience difficulty	face challenges	Learners often experience difficulty adapting to online education.
encounter difficulty	come across problems	Businesses may encounter difficulties when expanding internationally.
serious difficulty	major or critical problem	The country faces serious difficulties in reducing unemployment.

Notes

Note the common structure have difficulty (in) doing something.
- It’s three months since he broke his leg, but he still has difficulty walking.
- He’s a loving person, but he has difficulty showing affection.
We use a number of verbs to describe having difficulties:
- Some parents experienced difficulty getting their children into the school of their choice.
- Officials have encountered difficulties in getting the aid through to the refugees.
- If you meet any difficulties, let me know and I’ll help you out.
Note how we talk about lots of difficulties:
- Her path to becoming the first woman president was beset with difficulties.
- The situation is fraught with difficulties.
An insurmountable difficulty is one which cannot be overcome.
- The government faces insurmountable difficulties in getting its new tax bill passed.
Note the common expressions with / without difficulty:
- The boxer got to his feet with difficulty.
- You should be able to find the hotel without much difficulty.

Difficulty Collocation for IELTS: Practice Exercises

The following exercises are designed to help you understand and use difficulty collocations for IELTS. So, take up the exercises one by one and refer to the answer key below once you complete them.

Exercise A: Use the correct form of these verbs.

be in cause foresee

get into overcome present

Credit cards make it extremely easy for young people to __________ difficulty with debt.
We’re confident that these difficulties will be __________ before the play starts.
It was in the six o’clock news that a large oil tanker __________ difficulties off the coast of France. It’s in danger of breaking in two.
My father’s had a mild stroke and it has__________ difficulties with his speech.
The task should__________ no difficulty for someone of his ability.
I don’t __________any difficulties so long as we keep to our planned route.

Exercise B: Complete the sentences with these adjectives.

current financial learning main

marital technical unforeseen

The President’s live broadcast was delayed because of__________ difficulties.
We offer a free counselling service to couples with__________ difficulties.
The__________ difficulty with this new approach is that it takes twice as long as the old one.
He says he’s having__________ difficulties and that he can’t pay the rent.
My sister works in a special school for children with severe__________ difficulties.
I think I’ve got a plan for getting us out of our__________ difficulties.
An__________ difficulty has arisen, so I’m afraid we’ll have to postpone the meeting.

Exercise C: Match the two halves of the following.

The town was very busy.
Arsenal won easily.
The burglars found the door unlocked.

a They never seemed to be in any difficulty.

b We had great difficulty finding somewhere to park.

c They had no difficulty getting in.

Difficulty Collocations Answer Keys for Practice Exercises

Ex A:

1 get into 2. overcome 3. is in / has got into

4 caused 5. present 6. foresee

Ex B:

1 technical 2. marital 3. main 4. financial

5 learning 6. current 7. unforeseen

Ex C:

1-b 2-a 3-c

To conclude, start adding the difficulty collocations for IELTS to the academic collocation list and practicing them in your own writing and speaking today to express challenges clearly and confidently in any IELTS topic. They are not just vocabulary; they reflect your ability to think and write in English idiomatically, a hallmark of a Band 7–9 candidate.

Useful Links: