Practice turning singular words into plural nouns with this easy-to-follow grammar worksheet for elementary students.

Let’s go step by step to change each noun into its plural form.

First, remember the rules from the worksheet:

1. Most nouns → just add s
Example: car → cars

2. If a noun ends in ch, sh, s, x, or z → add es
Example: bus → buses (ends in ‘s’)
Example: watch → watches (ends in ‘ch’)

3. If a noun ends in y:
- If the letter before y is a consonant → change y to i and add es
Example: cherry → cherries (‘r’ is consonant)
- If the letter before y is a vowel (a, e, i, o, u) → just add s
Example: boy → boys (‘o’ is vowel) — but note: “boy” isn’t on this list, so we’ll stick to the ones given.

Now let’s do each word one by one.

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First section:

- car → cars (just add s)
- bus → buses (ends in ‘s’, so add es)
- key → keys (ends in ‘y’, but ‘e’ is vowel → just add s)
- cup → cups (just add s)
- watch → watches (ends in ‘ch’ → add es)
- pencil → pencils (just add s)
- fox → foxes (ends in ‘x’ → add es)
- class → classes (ends in ‘ss’ → add es)

- house → houses (ends in ‘se’? Wait — actually, it ends in ‘e’, not ch/sh/s/x. But wait — “house” ends with ‘se’, which is still just ‘s’ sound? Actually, no — rule says if it ends in s, you add es. “House” ends in ‘e’, but the last letter is ‘e’, not ‘s’. Let me double-check.

Wait — correction: The rule says “if a noun ends in ch, sh, s, or x” → add es.

“House” ends in ‘e’ — so normally you’d think just add ‘s’. BUT — “house” becomes “houses” — yes, that’s correct. Why? Because even though it ends in ‘e’, the pronunciation has an ‘s’ sound at the end? Actually, no — the spelling rule is based on the last LETTER.

Actually, “house” ends in ‘e’, so according to strict spelling rule, it should be “houses” — because when you add ‘s’ to a word ending in ‘e’, you still just add ‘s’ — but “house” + ‘s’ = “houses” — which is correct. So maybe I was overthinking.

But let’s check the actual rule again from the worksheet:
> “If an noun ends in ch, sh, s or x, we usually add es to the word.”

“House” does NOT end in ch, sh, s, or x — it ends in ‘e’. So why is it “houses”? Actually, it IS “houses” — and that’s because when you add ‘s’ to a word ending in ‘e’, you don’t drop the ‘e’ — you just add ‘s’. So “house” + ‘s’ = “houses”. That’s fine. It doesn’t require ‘es’ unless it ends in those specific letters.

Wait — but “bus” ends in ‘s’ → “buses” (add es).
“Box” ends in ‘x’ → “boxes” (add es).
“Brush” ends in ‘sh’ → “brushes” (add es).
“Lunch” ends in ‘ch’ → “lunches” (add es).
“Sock” → “socks” (just add s)
“Pen” → “pens” (just add s)
“Book” → “books” (just add s)
“Fax” → “faxes” (ends in ‘x’ → add es)

So let’s redo carefully:

Left column:

- car → cars
- bus → buses (ends in ‘s’ → es)
- key → keys (ends in ‘y’, preceded by vowel ‘e’ → just add s)
- cup → cups
- watch → watches (ends in ‘ch’ → es)
- pencil → pencils
- fox → foxes (ends in ‘x’ → es)
- class → classes (ends in ‘ss’ → which is ‘s’ → es)

Right column:

- house → houses (ends in ‘e’ → just add s — but written as “houses”, which is correct)
- box → boxes (ends in ‘x’ → es)
- brush → brushes (ends in ‘sh’ → es)
- lunch → lunches (ends in ‘ch’ → es)
- sock → socks
- pen → pens
- book → books
- fax → faxes (ends in ‘x’ → es)

Now second section — words ending in ‘y’:

Rule:
- If letter before ‘y’ is consonant → change y to i and add es
- If letter before ‘y’ is vowel → just add s

List:

- cherry → ends in ‘y’, before ‘y’ is ‘r’ (consonant) → cherries
- penny → ends in ‘y’, before ‘y’ is ‘n’ (consonant) → pennies
- pony → ends in ‘y’, before ‘y’ is ‘n’ (consonant) → ponies
- party → ends in ‘y’, before ‘y’ is ‘t’ (consonant) → parties
- lady → ends in ‘y’, before ‘y’ is ‘d’ (consonant) → ladies

- fly → ends in ‘y’, before ‘y’ is ‘l’ (consonant) → flies
- candy → ends in ‘y’, before ‘y’ is ‘d’ (consonant) → candies
- tray → ends in ‘y’, before ‘y’ is ‘a’ (vowel!) → trays (just add s)
- family → ends in ‘y’, before ‘y’ is ‘l’ (consonant) → families
- bay → ends in ‘y’, before ‘y’ is ‘a’ (vowel) → bays

Wait — “tray”: t-r-a-y → ‘a’ is vowel → so just add s → trays ✔
“bay”: b-a-y → ‘a’ is vowel → bays ✔

All others have consonant before ‘y’ → change to i + es.

Now let’s write all answers clearly.

Final Answer:

car → cars
bus → buses
key → keys
cup → cups
watch → watches
pencil → pencils
fox → foxes
class → classes

house → houses
box → boxes
brush → brushes
lunch → lunches
sock → socks
pen → pens
book → books
fax → faxes

cherry → cherries
penny → pennies
pony → ponies
party → parties
lady → ladies

fly → flies
candy → candies
tray → trays
family → families
bay → bays