Spelling Plurals Ending in -s

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

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

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.

Nouns Ending in Consonant + 'y'
Singular (1)	Plural (2+)
baby	babies
fly	flies

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.

Nouns Ending in Vowel + 'y'
Singular (1)	Plural (2+)
tray	trays
toy	toys

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

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

Nouns Ending in 'z'
Singular (1)	Plural (2+)
quiz	quizzes

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

Nouns Ending in 'o' with -s
Singular (1)	Plural (2+)
piano	pianos
casino	casinos

Nouns Ending in 'o' with -es
Singular (1)	Plural (2+)
potato	potatoes
tomato	tomatoes

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

Nouns Ending in vowel +'o'
Singular (1)	Plural (2+)
stereo	stereos
studio	studios

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.

Nouns Ending in 'f' and 'fe'
Singular (1)	Plural (2+)
leaf	leaves
wife	wives

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

Nouns Ending in 'f' and 'fe'
Singular (1)	Plural (2+)
cliff	cliffs
proof	proofs

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.