Which irregular plurals should a 2nd grader know?

The everyday set: mice, feet, teeth, children, men, women, and geese. These cover nearly every irregular plural a 2nd grader will read or write. Fish and sheep, which stay the same, round out the list nicely once the changing words are solid.

My child writes "foots" and "childs." Should I correct it?

Gently, and without worry; it's the same healthy overgeneralizing that produces "goed" and "runned." The child has learned the add-s rule and simply applies it everywhere. Practice with the real forms, plus hearing the wrong ones aloud, sorts it out over a few weeks.

2nd grade irregular plural nouns

2nd grade irregular plural nouns worksheets

Most plurals add -s, but a stubborn set of old words changes instead: mouse/mice, foot/feet, tooth/teeth, child/children, man/men, woman/women, goose/geese. Second graders learn this core set by meeting the words in sentences where the number cue makes the plural unmistakable.

Free printable PDF worksheet, aligned to Common Core L.2.1.b.

Each print is a different sheet with its own answer key. You don't need to sign up.

The kind of sentences you'll fix

Write the plural of the word in parentheses to complete each sentence.

Both pals grinned and showed their missing front (tooth).
Fixed: Both pals grinned and showed their missing front teeth.
In science class, we counted the model skull’s thirty-two (tooth).
Jade drew four (deer) leaping over a log.

Every print pulls a new set of sentences at this level, so a make-up test or a second sibling gets a different mix.

What's on a 2nd grade sheet

2nd grade sheets draw from 60 sentences, 7 to a page. All 60 are on 3rd grade sheets too, along with 21 more. 3rd grade sheets print 8 to a page.

A few of the sentences, as the answer key corrects them:

All four children in the Ruiz family love soccer.
Ten orange fish darted around the tank.
Three deer stepped quietly out of the fog.

Fix it. Write the plural of the word in parentheses to complete each sentence. 7 sentences to fix per page.
Choose the word. Circle the letter of the correct plural. 8 questions per page.

Every version prints on US Letter or A4, with its answer key on the last page.

How to teach this

These words are survivors from very old English, which is a fun fact that helps kids forgive them for breaking the rules. Teach the core seven or eight as sight vocabulary, with pictures and counting: one foot, two feet, one child, three children. Saying the wrong form out loud (two mouses!) usually earns a giggle and cements the right one.

Watch for: Some plurals don't change at all: one sheep, five sheep; one deer, three deer. The number word does all the work. Double-marked forms like mices or feets are never right; the changed word is already plural.

Common questions about 2nd grade irregular plural nouns

Which irregular plurals should a 2nd grader know?: The everyday set: mice, feet, teeth, children, men, women, and geese. These cover nearly every irregular plural a 2nd grader will read or write. Fish and sheep, which stay the same, round out the list nicely once the changing words are solid.
My child writes "foots" and "childs." Should I correct it?: Gently, and without worry; it's the same healthy overgeneralizing that produces "goed" and "runned." The child has learned the add-s rule and simply applies it everywhere. Practice with the real forms, plus hearing the wrong ones aloud, sorts it out over a few weeks.

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Aligned to Common Core L.2.1.b. Reviewed by the One more sheet team. Content version 241, updated October 2026.

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