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What does “out of the frying pan into the fire” mean?

Meaning, example sentences and a quick practice question.

B2

To go from a bad situation into an even worse one

“Changing jobs just put me out of the frying pan into the fire.”

From the B2 lesson What's Cooking? (food idioms).

C1

To escape one bad situation only to land in a worse one

“He left the stressful job for an even more chaotic one: out of the frying pan into the fire.”

Say it smoothly: “out-o'the-frying-pan-into-the-fire”

From the C1 lesson What's Cooking? (food idioms).

Quick check

What does “out of the frying pan into the fire” mean?

Teaching this phrase?“out of the frying pan into the fire” is part of a ready-to-teach lesson, with a reading, three exercises, speaking tasks and an answer key, in Everyday English Chunks B2 Pack 3 (Money, Food, Work and Travel) and Everyday English Chunks C1 Pack 3 (Money, Food, Work and Travel).
See the B2 lesson pack See the C1 lesson pack

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