Spelling Plurals Ending in -s

To make the plural form of a noun, we add -s

Singular (1)	Plural (2+)
book	books
tree	trees

Singular and Plural

Words Ending in ‘y’

There are different rules for words ending in ‘y’ depending on the letter before the ‘y’

If the word ends with a consonant + ‘y’, you remove the ‘y’ and add -ies.

Singular (1)	Plural (2+)
baby	babies
fly	flies

Nouns Ending in Consonant + ‘y’

Words ending in consonant + ‘y’ usually have an /iː/ or an /аɪ/ sound.

If the word ends in a vowel + ‘y’, we just add -s.

Singular (1)	Plural (2+)
tray	trays
toy	toys

Nouns Ending in Vowel + ‘y’

Vowels are the letters ‘a’, ’e’, ‘i’, ‘o’, and ‘u’. All other letters are consonants.

For words ending in ‘sh’, ‘ch’, ’s’, and ‘x’, we add -es

Nouns Ending in ‘sh’, ‘ch’, ’s’, and ‘x’

For words ending in ‘z’, we double the z and add -es.

Singular (1)	Plural (2+)
quiz	quizzes

Nouns Ending in ‘z’

For some words ending in ‘o’ we add -s and for some we add -es.

Singular (1)	Plural (2+)
piano	pianos
casino	casinos

Nouns Ending in ‘o’ with -s

Singular (1)	Plural (2+)
potato	potatoes
tomato	tomatoes

Nouns Ending in ‘o’ with -es

For words ending in a vowel + ‘o’, we always add -s.

Singular (1)	Plural (2+)
stereo	stereos
studio	studios

Nouns Ending in vowel +‘o’

If you are not sure whether to add -s or -es, check your dictionary.

For many words ending in ‘f’ and ‘fe’, we remove the ‘f’ or ‘fe’ and add -ves.

Singular (1)	Plural (2+)
leaf	leaves
wife	wives

Nouns Ending in ‘f’ and ‘fe’

For some words ending in ‘f’, we just add -s

Singular (1)	Plural (2+)
cliff	cliffs
proof	proofs

Nouns Ending in ‘f’ and ‘fe’

If you are not sure whether to add -s or -ves, check your dictionary.

These spelling rules only work for regular plural nouns. See the irregular plurals list to learn how to spell irregular plurals.