2nd grade irregular past tense verbs worksheets
Most verbs make their past tense with -ed (jump, jumped), but irregular verbs change instead: go/went, see/saw, eat/ate. Second graders learn the everyday set through practice, choosing the real past form over the tempting -ed guess like "goed."
Free printable PDF worksheet, aligned to Common Core L.2.1.d.
A new sheet every click.
The kind of sentences you'll fix
Write the past tense of the verb in parentheses in the blank.
-
Last Friday, Kofi (sleep) in a tent for the first time.
Fixed: Last Friday, Kofi slept in a tent for the first time.
- Yesterday, Ren (bring) orange slices for the whole soccer team.
- Yesterday at recess, Chioma (run) to the swings before anyone else.
Every print pulls a fresh set of sentences at this level, so a make-up test or a second sibling never gets the same sheet.
What's on each sheet
- Fix it. Write the past tense of the verb in parentheses in the blank. 7 sentences to fix per page.
- Choose the word. Circle the letter of the correct past tense verb. The word in parentheses is the verb to change. 8 questions per page.
Every version prints on US Letter or A4, with its answer key on the last page.
How to teach this
Overregularizing (goed, eated) is developmentally normal and even a good sign; it means the -ed rule has landed. The fix is exposure, not explanation: lots of short practice with the most frequent verbs. Read the sentence with the wrong form out loud occasionally; hearing "we goed" usually gets a laugh and a correction.
Watch for: Adding -ed to everything (goed, runned) is a smart guess that happens to be wrong for these verbs. It means the child has learned the regular rule; now they need the exceptions. Some past forms need a helper: 'she has written', not 'she has wrote'. Our answer keys use the plain past on these sheets.
Common questions about irregular past tense verbs
- Which irregular verbs should a 2nd grader know?
- The high-frequency set they use daily: go/went, see/saw, eat/ate, run/ran, come/came, get/got, make/made, take/took, sit/sat, write/wrote. Master those ten and most of a 2nd grader's speech and writing is covered.
- My child says "goed" and "runned." Should I worry?
- No; it's a healthy stage. It shows they've learned the regular -ed rule and are applying it everywhere. The irregular forms come with practice and exposure, which is exactly what repeated fresh worksheets are for.
Related worksheets
- 3rd grade irregular past tense verbs A step harder, same skill
- 4th grade irregular past tense verbs A step harder, same skill
- 2nd grade action verbs Same grade, nearby skill
- 2nd grade adverbs of how, when, and where Same grade, nearby skill
- 2nd grade articles (a, an, the) Same grade, nearby skill
- Irregular past tense verbs, all grades The full progression
- All 2nd grade English worksheets Every skill at this level
- All 2nd grade worksheets Everything at this level
Ready to print one?
Need a fresh set of questions? Download another copy.
Aligned to Common Core L.2.1.d. Reviewed by the One more sheet team. Content version 137, updated August 2026.
Spot a mistake on this sheet? Tell us. · About these worksheets