Meaning & use
account balance
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountable
The amount of money currently in a bank or other account after deposits and withdrawals have been counted.
Grammar: Countable: check your account balance, two account balances.
Patterns
- check your account balance
- an account balance of something
I checked my account balance before buying the laptop.
Your account balance will show the payment tomorrow.
A low account balance can trigger a fee at some banks.
nouncountable
The sum a customer owes on a credit card or bill that has not yet been paid.
Grammar: Often used with owe or pay: pay the account balance in full.
Patterns
- pay an account balance
She pays her account balance in full each month to avoid interest.
The statement shows an account balance of two hundred dollars due.
Common combinations
- check your account balance
- You can check your account balance in the app.
- low account balance
- A low account balance may mean overdraft charges.
- available account balance
- Your available account balance excludes pending payments.
- account balance inquiry
- The machine offers an account balance inquiry for free.
- pay the account balance
- He decided to pay the account balance on Friday.
Synonyms and how they differ
- balance
- Balance is the everyday short form and works anywhere the context is already clear.
- funds
- Funds is more general and refers to money available, not to one account's exact figure.
- statement balance
- Statement balance is the total owed on a particular billing date, so it can differ from the live figure.
Opposites
Word family
- balance noun
- the amount left in an account
- balance verb
- to make debits and credits match
- account noun
- a record of money held with a bank
- accountant noun
- a professional who keeps financial records
Commonly confused: account balance or account number?
account balance vs account number
An account number identifies the account, while the account balance is the money in it.
Practice
Before the transfer, I looked at my ___ to see how much money I had.
Choose one answer.
Account balance is the amount of money in the account. Account number is just an identifier and tells you nothing about the funds.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “account balance”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.