1) close 和 shut 都可以用于门窗、通道和整个建筑物以及其他可开可闭的东西。

• I can't close/shut the window. Can you help me?窗户我关不起来。你能帮一下吗？
• The shop closes/shuts at five o'clock.店五点关门。
• Open your mouth and close/shut your eyes.请张开嘴，闭上眼睛。

但是如果涉及要关在里面或外面的物品或人或动物，就只能用 shut，不能用 close。

• I shut(*closed) the letters in my desk drawer and locked it.我把信都放进了书桌抽屉锁起来。
• The pigs were shut (*closed) in a cage.猪关到了笼子里。
• He shut(*closed) the cats out of the house.他把猫关到房子外面。
• She shut (*closed) herself in her bedroom and refused to come out.她把自己关在卧室里，不肯出来。

2) close 和 shut 的过去分词 closed 和 shut 都可以当作形容词使用。

• The post office is closed/shut on Saturday afternoon.邮局星期六下午关门。

但是 closed 既可以用作表语，也可以用作前置定语。例如 closed doors (*shut doors)，shut 则只能用作表语或后置定语。

3) close 的动作比较温和，shut 的动作比较猛。

• As we watched, he closed(*shut) his eyes for the last time.我们看着他最后闭上了眼睛。
• He shut (*closed) his ears to what his parents said.他对父母所说的话充耳不闻。
• She shut (*closed) her fingers in the door.她关门夹住了手指。
• Her skirt got shut (*closed) in the door.她的裙子被门夹住了。
• They shut (*closed) the door in his face.他们给他吃了闭门羹。
• 牙医对病人说：Close (*shut) your mouth, please. 请把嘴闭上。但是喝令人家住口就说：Shut (*close) your mouth.
• 一栋大楼，如果出告示说星期天关闭，就说：This building is closed (*shut) on Sunday.