make change

idiom

US
: to give someone the change required if he or she pays with or offers a larger amount of money
Can you make change for a twenty?

Examples of make change in a Sentence

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Many retailers are just rounding up or down to the nearest 0- or 5-cent mark in their prices to make change. Erika Tulfo, CBS News, 16 Feb. 2026 Coakley makes sure that her troop knows how to make change and how to politely speak to customers, even the difficult ones. Michael Butler, Miami Herald, 30 Jan. 2026 The Democratic governor said some people have been fired, others have been jailed and entire funding streams have been cut off in an effort to make change. N'dea Yancey-Bragg, USA Today, 9 Jan. 2026 Change the language and tone to make change palatable. David Podolsky, Fortune, 19 Nov. 2025 See All Example Sentences for make change

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“Make change.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/make%20change. Accessed 20 Feb. 2026.

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