Plural Forms
Master all English plural spelling rules — regular (-s, -es, -ies, -ves), zero-plural (sheep, aircraft), and irregular (child → children, tooth → teeth) — with 11 exercises.
Sample questions
Try these on your own, then open the answer to check.
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How many ___ do they have at home?
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children
'Child' has the irregular plural 'children'. "Child's" is the possessive of the singular.
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I must see the dentist — two of my ___ hurt.
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teeth
'Tooth' has the irregular plural 'teeth'. "Tooth's" is a possessive, not a plural.
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There are several large ___ in this region.
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cities
Nouns ending in consonant + y take -ies: 'city' → 'cities'. "City's" is the possessive.
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Be careful with those sharp ___.
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knives
Nouns ending in -fe change to -ves: 'knife' → 'knives'.
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We need to buy some ___ for the salad.
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tomatoes
Nouns ending in consonant + o take -es: 'tomato' → 'tomatoes'. An apostrophe never makes a plural.
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There were too many ___ at the concert.
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people
The usual plural of 'person' is the irregular form 'people'.
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We caught three ___ in the lake yesterday.
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fish
'Fish' usually stays the same in the plural. 'Fishes' is used only for different species.
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Two ___ were waiting outside the office.
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men
'Man' has the irregular plural 'men'.
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She keeps three storage ___ in her bedroom.
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boxes
Nouns ending in -x take -es: 'box' → 'boxes'.
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My new shoes are too tight and they hurt my ___.
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feet
'Foot' has the irregular plural 'feet'.
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Three ___ applied for the manager's job.
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women
'Woman' has the irregular plural 'women'.
English Plural Forms
Forming the plural correctly is one of the first grammar skills learners acquire, yet errors persist well into B2 level. Analysis of the Cambridge Learner Corpus shows that irregular plural errors appear in over 12% of B1–B2 writing samples, with 'womans', 'childs', 'sheeps', and 'aircrafts' among the most frequent. The difficulty is that English applies six different spelling rules, plus a category of zero-plural nouns and a separate list of historically irregular forms that share no common pattern. Systematic practice with all categories — not just the common -s rule — is essential to reach reliable accuracy.
Regular Plural Rules
Most nouns simply add -s. The other rules apply to specific endings:
- Ending in -ch, -sh, -s, -x, -z: add -es (watch → watches, bus → buses, box → boxes)
- Consonant + -y: change to -ies (family → families, country → countries)
- Vowel + -y: add -s (day → days, key → keys)
- Most -f/-fe endings: change to -ves (shelf → shelves, knife → knives, life → lives)
- Exceptions to the -f rule: roof → roofs, chief → chiefs, belief → beliefs
Zero-Plural Nouns
These nouns use the same form for singular and plural. No additional ending is ever added:
one fish → many fish
one aircraft → a fleet of aircraft
one series → two series
Irregular Plurals
tooth → teeth | foot → feet | goose → geese
person → people | mouse → mice
Common Mistakes
✗ British Airways owns many aircrafts. → ✓ British Airways owns many aircraft.
✗ I need new shelfs for my books. → ✓ I need new shelves for my books.
Last updated: · Satori Editorial