come in — 3 meanings

One phrase, 3 meanings. Learn them one at a time, then test yourself.

phrasal verb3 meanings

come in

enter become available or useful be relevant

Meaning 1 · most common

enter

a place

come in to somewhere

A teacher at his desk waves a boy in as he steps through the open office door.

to enter a room or building, especially after being outside or after knocking.

How oftenCommon

LevelB1

Used inMostly spoken

Examples

She knocked on the door and waited for someone to tell her to come in.

A: Can I come in?
B: Sure, the door's open!

Common mistake

Not: Please come ~~in to~~ the room.

Say: Please come in. / Please come into the room.

Bare 'come in', or 'come INTO the room' — not 'come in to the room'.

More on “enter”Another example · Tell it apart · Goes with · Tip

Another example

If I arrive early for a job interview, I usually wait until someone asks me to come in before entering the office.

Tell it apart

Come in and take a seat.

enter this space

Come round after work.

come to my place

Goes with

come in

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Next meaning: become available or useful

Meaning 2

become available or useful

come in sth

to become available, be received, or start being useful or important.

How oftenNow and then

LevelB2

Used inSpeech & writing

Examples

This phone charger will come in handy when we travel.

A: Do you really need all those pens?
B: You never know when they might come in useful.

Common mistake

Not: This will come handy one day.

Say: This will come in handy one day.

The phrase is 'come IN handy' — don't drop 'in'.

More on “become available or useful”Another example · Tell it apart · Goes with · Tip

Another example

Learning how to manage your time can really come in useful when you have a lot of assignments to complete.

Tell it apart

Keep it — it might come in handy.

turn out useful

Keep at it — it'll come good in the end.

turn out well

Goes with

come in handy/useful

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Next meaning: be relevant

Meaning 3

be relevant

come in sth

to become important, relevant, or applicable in a particular situation, especially when discussing how or when something starts to have an effect.

How oftenNow and then

LevelC1

Used inMostly spoken

Examples

This is where your previous experience really comes in, as it helps you handle unexpected challenges.

A: I’m not sure why we need to learn statistics for this job.
B: Trust me, it’ll come in when you have to analyse the sales data.

Common mistake

Not: This is where experience comes ~~in to it.~~

Say: This is where experience comes in.

'Come in' stands alone here ('this is where X comes in') — don't tack 'to it' on.

More on “be relevant”Another example · Tell it apart · Goes with · Tip

Another example

Critical thinking skills come in when students are required to evaluate conflicting sources of information.

Tell it apart

That's where the lawyers come in.

where their role becomes relevant

That's where the lawyers come from.

their origin

Goes with

this is where ... comes in

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Test yourself: which one is it?

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Which one is it?

Read the sentence, then pick the meaning that's in play.

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enter become available or useful be relevant