英语中，spend、take、pay、cost四个词都有花费的意思，主要区别有：
一、spend的主语通常是人，句型有：
1. (sb) spend some money/some time on sth
2. (sb) spend some money/some time (in) doing sth
例如：
I spent fifty yuan on the coat. = I spent fifty yuan (in) buying the coat. 我花50元买了这件大衣。
He spent three days on the work. = He spent three days (in) doing the work. 他干这项工作用了3天。
3. spend money for sth. 花钱买……
例如：His money was spent for books. 他的钱用来买书了。
二、take常用于“占用、花费”时间，后面常跟双宾语，其主语通常为形式主语"it"或物。句型有：
1. It takes/took sb. some time to do sth
例如：It will take me two days to do the work. 这项工作将会花去我2天时间。
2. Doing sth./sth. takes sb. some time.
例如：The work will take me two days. 这项工作将会花去我2天时间。
Repairing this car took him the whole afternoon. 他花了一下午修车。
It took me three years to draw the beautiful horses. =Drawing the beautiful horses took me three years. 画这些漂亮的马花费了我3年时间。
三、pay为“付款、赔偿”之意，主语通常是人，句型有：
1. sb. pays some money for sth
例如： I paid fifty yuan for the coat. 我花50元买了这件大衣。
2. pay (sb.) money for sth. 付钱（给某人）买……
例如：I have to pay them 20 pounds for this room each month. 我每个月要付20英磅的房租。
3. pay money back 还钱
例如：May I borrow 12 yuan from you? I'll pay it back next week. 你能借给我12块钱吗？下周还你。
4. pay off one's money 还清钱
四、cost的主语是物或某种活动， 还可以表示“值”。句型有：
1. sth. costs (sb.) +money 某物花了（某人）多少钱
例如：A new computer costs a lot of money. 买一台新电脑要花一大笔钱。
2. (doing) sth. costs (sb.) +time 某物（做某事）花了（某人）多少时间
例如：Remembering these new words cost him a lot of time. 他花了大量时间才记住了这些单词。
注意：cost的过去式及过去分词都是cost，并且不能用于被动句。
参考资料：
eg.It took me two hours to repair my car.
2.spend 表示花费时间，金钱，精力等，常用人作主语。
eg.She spent two hours (in) doing her homework.
=She spent two hours on her homework.
I spent 20 yuan (in) buying this book.
=I spent 20 yuan on this book.
3.cost表示某物的价值，常用于花费金钱，劳动等，不用人作主语。
eg.It will cost you 200 dollars to fly to Hong Kong.
4.pay表示付款，给……报酬，常与for 连用，用人作主语。
eg.I paid ten dollars for that book.
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四个花费