student asking question

How different "wake up with" and "wake up to"?

teacher

Native speaker’s answer

Rebecca

"Wake up with" refers to having something when you wake up, for example if you "wake up with a cold", it means you have a cold when you wake up. "Wake up to" refers to seeing something when you wake up, for example "waking up to rain" refers to seeing rainy weather as soon as you wake up. Ex: I woke up with messy hair. Ex: She woke up with a growling stomach. Ex: He woke up to one-hundred emails. Ex: I woke up to my cat staring at me.

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