The Rules of Regular and Irregular Plurals

For most nouns, just add -s

For nouns ending in s, x, z, ch or sh,
add -es
Singular Plural

Singular Plural
hand hands

box boxes
rabbit rabbits

pitch pitches
key keys

wish wishes
clock clocks

boss bosses
football footballs

buzz buzzes
door doors

glass glasses

For some words ending in o, add -es

However, for some words ending in o,
just add -s
Singular Plural

Singular Plural
potato potatoes

cello cellos
tomato tomatoes

disco discos
hero heroes

hairdo hairdos
echo echoes

logo logos
banjo banjoes

patio patios
The plural of many words ending in o can be
spelt with -s or -es.

photo photos

piano pianos

radio radios

For some words ending in f, change
the f to a v and add -es
However, for some words ending in f,
just add -s
Singular Plural

Singular Plural
half halves

chef chefs
loaf loaves

cliff cliffs
elf elves

ref refs
leaf leaves

roof roofs
self selves

The plural of some nouns ending in f can be
spelt using either variation.
shelf shelves

thief thieves

wolf wolves


For some nouns ending in ife, change
the f to a v and then add -s
For common nouns that end with
consonant + y, change the y to an i
and then add -es
Singular Plural

Singular Plural
wife wives

poppy poppies
life lives

fly flies
knife knives

penny pennies

spy spies

nappy nappies

sty sties

Some nouns are the same in both
singular and plural from
For some nouns, change other letters
or just change the word completely!
Singular Plural

Singular Plural
fish fish

person people
sheep sheep

child children
deer deer

ox oxen
tuna tuna

foot feet
salmon salmon

tooth teeth
trout trout

goose geese


mouse mice


louse lice

man men

Choose the correct form of the plural for each noun.
1. The plural of "phenomenon" is
A. ? phenomena
B. ? phenomenons
C. ? phenomeni
D. ? phenomenon
2. The plural of "buffalo" is
A. ? buffalos
B. ? buffals
C. ? buffalose
D. ? buffaloes
3. The plural of "shelf" is
A. ? shelfs
B. ? shelves
C. ? shelvs
D. ? shelfes
4. The plural of "child" is
A. ? children
B. ? childs
C. ? cheeld
D. ? child
5. The plural of "woman" is
A. ? womans
B. ? womanes
C. ? women
D. ? woman
6. The plural of "stimulus" is
A. ? stimuluses
B. ? stimuli
C. ? stimula
D. ? stimules
7. The plural of "thesis" is
A. ? thesises
B. ? thesies
C. ? thesi
D. ? theses
8. The plural of "calf" (a baby cow)
is
A. ? calfs
B. ? calves
C. ? calf
D. ? celf
9. The plural of "bus" is
A. ? bi
B. ? buss
C. ? buses
D. ? busa
10. The plural of "deer" is
A. ? deers
B. ? deeres
C. ? door
D. ? deer

Irregular Plurals of Nouns
For each noun, type the plural
form in the box.
1. foot

2. wolf

3. yourself

4. person

5. analysis

6. goose

7. echo

8. fish

9. octopus

10. thief