Is there any difference between "result in" and "end up with"?

It's more about formality and establishing a direct cause-and-effect link than specific outcomes. Here's another non-negative example :

After years of dating idiots, she ended up with the man of her dreams.

"Resulted in" is formal and defines a direct relationship. "Ended up with" is informal, and could suggest that there may have been other factors involved. It's also more ambiguous, as there doesn't have to be a known cause for the effect - it just describes the outcome (her experience of dating idiots might have helped her avoid other idiots, but didn't necessarily lead her to the man of her dreams).

[Apologies for using a gendered fairy tale trope - it seemed to illustrate the point.]

The first example in the question doesn't read quite right : "The game resulted in a draw" or "the game result was a draw" would be better, but you could also say "the game ended up as a draw".

The second example is correct use. The third and fourth are also correct, but could be rewritten :

Years of overwork resulted in an incurable disease.

Poor maintenance resulted in a repair bill of 200 dollars.

In the fourth example, you'd also be establishing what had caused the result. If you want to establish a direct cause, "resulted in" is more precise. If the outcome was more relevant than why it had happened, "ended up" could be the better phrase to use.

This is particularly true where a more emotive point is being made - "ended up with" conveys a sense of finality that wouldn't be made by the word "resulted". In that respect "resulted" can be said to represent a subsequent event, while "ended up" represents a conclusion. Whether this is positive or negative will depend on what happened.


Two distinctions have been mentioned already:

  1. "Result in" is more formal than "end up with"

  2. "Result in" indicates that the outcome was a consequence of the subject of the verb.

But there is a third distinction. In "result in", the subject of the verb is an action or a process. So you can say

Driving in the construction site resulted in a flat tire.

but you can't say

* Because he drove through the construction site, he resulted in a flat tire.

On the other hand, the subject of "ended up with" is the recipient of the outcome, not the cause.

Because he drove through the construction site, he ended up with a flat tire.

but not as naturally

Driving in the construction site ended up with a flat tire.

(Some might say the above is OK, but I would be more comfortable with "Driving in the construction site ended up causing in a flat tire." It's the "with" that makes it more natural for the subject of the verb phrase to be the recipient.)