The difference between above and over

Above and over can both mean higher than.

The helicopter hovered above/over the building.

The water came up above/over our knees.

Above is preferred when we want to mean that one thing is not directly over
another.

There is a small cottage above the lake. (The cottage is not directly
over the lake.)
Above is also used in measurements of temperature, height, intelligence etc.,
where we think of a vertical scale.

The temperature never rose above 10 degree Celsius.

Over is preferred when one thing covers and/or touches another.

He put on a coat over his shirt.

There was cloud over the city.

Over is also used to talk about ages and speeds, and to mean more than.

You have to be over 18 to see that film.

There were over 50 fifty people at the meeting.

Exercise
1) The snow was so high it was

the roofs of the cars.

2) We saw a strange object in the sky

3) Tower Bridge goes

the farmhouse.

the River Thames.

4) There was a thin layer of ice

5) I put some pink sugar all

the road.

the cake.

6) The newspaper said there were

a thousand people at the

demonstration.
7) I've collected

500 stamps.

8) The average temperature is three degrees

9) Mount Everest is over 8,000 metres

freezing in winter.

sea-level.