The nouns blame and fault often confuse English learners — and sometimes even teachers. Both relate to responsibility for something wrong. So how do you know which one to use? What is the real difference between blame and fault?

The answer is not found in translation.

The key lies in collocations.

If you want to sound natural in English, you must pay attention to the words that commonly occur together. Native speakers do not select words in isolation. They use predictable word partnerships — and that’s where the difference between blame and fault becomes clear.

Let’s explore.

Why Collocations Matter

When two words seem to have similar meanings, the best strategy is to observe their typical combinations.

In other words:

Don’t ask only what a word means.
Ask how it behaves.

If you learn words together with their common collocations, you’ll avoid unnatural combinations and start sounding more fluent.

Let’s see how this works with blame and fault.

BLAME (Noun): Common Collocations

The following combinations refer only to blame as a noun.

• get the blame for something
• take the blame for something
• shoulder the blame for something
• bear the blame for something
• accept the blame for something
• put the blame on someone
• lay the blame on someone
• pin the blame on someone
• place the blame on someone
• share the blame for something

Examples in Context

• I always get the blame for anything that goes wrong at work.
• She’s the oldest child, so she always gets the blame.
• Do you expect me to take the blame for something I didn’t do?
• They’re trying to put the blame on us.
• I refuse to shoulder the blame for the entire fiasco.
• Health officials placed the blame on poor housing conditions.
• We never asked her to bear the blame.
• I won’t take the blame for this.
• The government must share the blame for this confusion.

Notice something important:

We say get the blame, not get the fault.
Using fault in that structure sounds unnatural.

Native speakers simply do not say get the fault for something.

This is why learning collocations is essential.

FAULT (Noun): Common Collocations

Now let’s look at fault as a noun when referring to responsibility.

• be someone’s fault
• be at fault for something
• find fault with something
• through someone’s fault
• through no fault of your own
• the fault lies with someone
• accept one’s fault

Examples in Context

• It’s all your fault.
• It was entirely my fault.
• Why should I apologize when it’s not my fault?
• The owners are at fault for not warning us.
• The fault lay with management.
• Many people, through no fault of their own, lost everything.
• He refuses to accept his fault.
• She always finds fault with my work.

Again, pay attention to patterns.

We say:

• It’s your fault
• The fault lies with…
• Be at fault

We do not use blame in these same structures.

The Core Difference Between Blame and Fault

While both words relate to responsibility, they behave differently in sentences.

In general:

• Blame is commonly used in expressions about assigning responsibility.
• Fault is commonly used in expressions describing responsibility as a state or condition.

But instead of memorizing abstract explanations, focus on:

Learning each word together with its most common collocations.

That’s how fluency develops.

Why This Matters for Teachers and Advanced Learners

If you teach English or aim for advanced fluency, understanding collocations is not optional — it’s essential.

Students who translate word-by-word often produce combinations that are grammatically correct but unnatural.

The solution?

Teach and learn vocabulary in chunks.

Instead of teaching isolated words like blame and fault, teach:

• take the blame
• be at fault
• put the blame on
• through no fault of one’s own

This approach aligns with modern lexical teaching principles and reflects how language is actually stored and processed in the brain.

Final Tip: Stop Learning Words in Isolation

The secret to mastering confusing vocabulary pairs like blame and fault is simple:

Learn words in context.
Learn their collocations.
Train your ear for natural combinations.

That’s how you move from correct English to natural English.

And natural English is what fluency is made of.

» This blog post was first published in Portuguese on August 29, 2014.