Rake changes meaning depending on the preposition. Some combinations refer to collecting money, while others describe movement or searching.
Use rake in for earning a lot of money, rake through for searching, rake across for movement over a surface, rake at for scraping or attacking, and rake over for reviewing or searching again.
These forms are not interchangeable. Choose the construction by meaning, not by which preposition appears most often.
Rake in is an informal expression for gaining a lot of money or profit.
Use through when searching among papers, leaves, or objects.
Across describes movement from one side to another.
Rake over often means discussing or searching through something repeatedly.
The same subject can take different constructions because each sentence answers a different question.
Some combinations appear in real text but do not mean what learners often assume.
Rake in usually refers to collecting money, not searching objects.
✕ She raked in the drawer for keys. ✓ She raked through the drawer for keys.Across refers to movement over a surface; through refers to searching inside something.
✕ He raked across the documents. ✓ He raked through the documents.Rake at is not used for earning money.
✕ The business raked at millions. ✓ The business raked in millions.Choose the expression that matches the intended meaning.
Paste the complete sentence below. Linguix checks the preposition together with grammar, spelling, punctuation, and style.
Yes. It is common in informal and journalistic English.
Yes. It often refers to revisiting old problems, arguments, or evidence.
It usually means scratching, scraping, or attacking toward something.
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