‘Work as a charm’ vs. ‘work like a charm’ in English

by Jakub Marian

Tip: See my list of the Most Common Mistakes in English. It will teach you how to avoid mis­takes with com­mas, pre­pos­i­tions, ir­reg­u­lar verbs, and much more.

The useful English idiom is to work like a charm, meaning “to work/operate perfectly” or “to have exactly the desired effect”.

Something can theoretically work as a charm: for example if you use “charm” in the meaning of “amulet”, you can say that “an emerald works as a charm” to express that an emerald can be used as a functioning amulet, but that’s not something you would usually want to say.

By the way, if you haven’t read my guide on how to avoid the most common mistakes in English, make sure to check it out; it deals with similar topics.

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