Spelling Rules for Making Words Plural
When making words plural, why do you add S to some words but ES to others? And when a word ends with Y, how do you know whether to change the Y to I before adding the plural suffix? And why on earth does the word knife become knives?
You can unravel these mysteries with six scoops of ice cream. Just click the play button below for a yummy treat, and then read on for free printable spelling rule posters and sample lessons!
Ready to Dig In?
Whether you prefer your ice cream in dishes or in cones or with one cherry or two cherries, these tasty guidelines will help you spell plurals correctly every time.
Tips and tricks like these are taught throughout the All About Spelling program. Want to see more? Download these free resources to see just how easy teaching spelling rules can be.
Download All About Spelling Level 1, Step 23.
This lesson from All About Spelling Level 1 shows how we teach kids to make words plural by adding either S or ES.
Download All About Spelling Level 5, Step 17.
In this lesson from All About Spelling Level 5, you can see how we teach kids to pluralize words that end in F and FE.
Download our free Spelling Rules Posters.
This handy resource will help make learning three important spelling rules fun and easy to remember for your children.
Do you think these guidelines for making words plural will improve your childβs spelling? Let me know in the comments below! And check out our other spelling rules, too!
Afeefa Muqaddas
says:why, in the word “now”, “o” spell as “a”?
in the word “call”, “a” spell as “o”, why?
These are really important concepts for me to know. Kindly reply me earlier..
please
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceI’m not sure what you are asking, Afeefa.
In the word now there is the vowel team OW. The phonogram OW can say two sounds, /ow/ (as in now or cow) or long /Ε/ (as in snow or crow). In the word call, the A is saying its third sound, /ah/. A usually says this sound when it comes before the letter L or after the letter W (as in call and water). You can hear these sounds spoken in our free Phonogram Sounds app.
Note: how these sounds are pronounced can be somewhat different depending on the accent of the speaker.
Does this help?
Exauce
says:This was very helpful.
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceI’m glad this was helpful for you, Exauce!
ISATA DARAMY
says:Teaching will understood
Maria Liguori
says:Very, very good!!! Thank you!
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceYou’re welcome, Maria!
Chol
says:This is really amazing, it is of great help especially to those who want to perfect their spelling skills
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceThank you, Chol!
Tiffany Fortini
says:Thank you! I have a question about a few words that end in o when adding an es or s. What about the words sombrero, avocado, mosquito, and echo. Is there a rule for these words? Thank you
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceTiffany,
I’m sorry, no. When a word ends a consonant plus an O, sometimes we add S and sometimes we add ES. There really isn’t a rule for when we do one or the other. We are left using a dictionary and just remembering which is correct for each word. Thankfully, in English words don’t often end in O.
Typically, in words of Spanish origin (sombrero and avocado) we just add an S, as that is how plurals are formed in Spanish. However, the word mosquito came into English pretty early (the 1500s or earlier), so we don’t keep the Spanish plural for it. In English, we spell it mosquitoes and in Spanish, they spell it mosquitos. This “generally” pattern holds true for words of Italian origin as well. That can be somewhat helpful if a student can recognize that a word has a Spanish or Italian origin.
And interestingly, while echoes is generally considered correct, at least some dictionaries claim either echoes or echos is correct. Sigh.
Good question. Thank you.
Lisa Phelps
says:Thank you SO much, delete that error one please:)
These are great!
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceYou’re welcome, Lisa!
Peggy
says:This is very useful!!!! Thanks so much!!
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceYou’re so welcome, Peggy!
Elgie
says:Thanks a lot, really informative.
Glad I found this post. TQ
Gerda Nel
says:What an amazing way of explaining plurals! I am going to use it for my class. Thank you.
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceYou’re welcome, Gerda. Let me know if you have any questions or need anything else.
Manisha Acharya
says:It is very good to teach to children..
Sugandhita
says:Wow!! Even I being a parent didn’t knew this. Really helps! Thanks for sharing!
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceYou’re welcome, Sugandhita. I’m glad this was helpful for you.
Ileana Cucu
says:This is a very good and helpful material. Funny and engaging. Thank you for sharing .
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceYou’re so welcome, Ileana! Let me know if you need anything.
Veronica Mihajlovic
says:This is one of the best Spelling sites and programs I have seen. Engaging for home learning at this time. Just great, thank you!
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceThank you, Veronica!
Noni
says:Informative and interesting too
Carolyn
says:Thank you for making these posters available for free! These will really help my special needs daughter.
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceYou’re so welcome, Carolyn! π
Simeon kampandi
says:Very helpful,how I wish I will be sent a series of topics for higher grades (8_12), am in Zambia, Lusaka
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceSimeon,
I’m pleased you found this helpful. We have lots of blog posts with teaching help and free printables for spelling. You can see them here. One that is particularly well liked by older students is Teaching Latin Roots with Word Trees.
If there is a specific topic you are looking for, let me know.
Sussie Weyl
says:Thank you!–I especially liked the plural poster.
Sussie
Pip Cloros
says:The ice cream video was very helpful. Thank you.
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceYou’re welcome, Pip.
joy murphy
says:Love all the spelling rules! They really help my daughter navigate the mystery that is spelling for her.
Monica Sitienei
says:It’s very interesting to learn English pronunciation online,have gained a lot.
Elaine
says:I am doing a reading course and these spelling rules are so much of a reinforcement. Thank you very much.
Lorraine Gilliam
says:Thanks for the resources!
Mary
says:Thanks, thanks and thanks again for your guidelines of spelling. I haven’t use them, however, I have no doubt it will help me and my grands.
Adebimpe
says:Very good
Mini S Thomas
says:Great tippy tips!
Manish
says:Yes, they will certainly help.
Manish
says:Very friendly
Lynda
says:Thank you for creating these posters!
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceYou’re welcome, Lynda! π
Vicky
says:This program has made our homeschooling so fun and dynamic all while unraveling all the strange English rules. We love all about reading/spelling and have used it for our 2 boys and will continue on to our 3rd!
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceIt’s so great to hear that All About Reading and All About Spelling are working so well for your boys and you, Vicky! π
Sally
says:Love the cute posters.
Deanna
says:Great posters.