I'd like to know if there is any difference between 電話する and 電話をする, if they
mean the same, or if 電話をする doesn't even exist.

I ask this because in an exercise in my book it says to use をする with 電話 to
form the verb, but on the online dictionary I usually check it says it's 電話する,
without を.

Dictionary link: <http://tangorin.com/general/%E9%9B%BB%E8%A9%B1>
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-07-16T15:33:52.960
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2014-07-18T05:11:12.113
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question
word-choice
電話する or 電話をする to form the verb
been in japan for almost 5 years already and have passed n5 and n4, from my
conversations and from what i have heard, 電話する is used and the only time i
have heard of 電話をする is in the classroom. having said this, it is important to
know the usage of を and how it is used/not used in the real world.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-07-17T04:43:56.350
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2014-07-17T04:43:56.350
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answer
> I ask this because in an exercise in my book it says to use をする with 電話 to
> form the verb, but on the online dictionary I usually check it says it's
> 電話する, without を.

Similar to [fefe's answer on a closely related
question](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/4007/29), 電話をする is really a
phrase, not a "word", so it probably wouldn't show up in a dictionary as a
unit.

In this case, it might be fair to say that the meanings are the same. In some
ways it can be compared to "I'll give X a call" vs "I'll call X". There are
corner cases where the former could sound "odd", but for all practical
purposes they mean the same thing.

One technical note: を shouldn't be used with 電話をする to indicate the topic of
the phone call, whereas it can be used with 電話する... following a more general
rule about not having more than one を in a clause.
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2014-07-17T08:53:01.837
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2014-07-17T09:12:36.507
2017-04-13T12:43:44.260
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answer