cotton on vs get onto

cotton on and get onto both are verbs.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
cotton on	No	No	Yes	No
get onto	No	No	Yes	No

As verbs, cotton on and get onto are synonyms defined as:

cotton on and get onto: understand, usually after some initial difficulty

Other synonyms of cotton on include catch on, get it, get wise, latch on, tumble, twig.

cotton on (verb)	get onto (verb)
understand, usually after some initial difficulty	understand, usually after some initial difficulty