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3rd Grade The Drop-E Rule Worksheets

Third graders drop the e without thinking and navigate the pairs where the drop-e word has a doubled twin: hoping and hopping, taping and tapping. Context picks the word; the rule picks the spelling.

Free printable PDF, aligned to Common Core L.3.2.e. One skill per page, answer key on page two.

Every sheet is one of a kind and prints with a version code, so you can reprint the exact same one later. New version every click.

A sample 3rd grade sheet. Yours will have different sentences. Click it to print your own.

The kind of sentences you'll fix

Put the pieces together and write the whole word on the line.

  1. hope + ing =

    Fixed: hoping

  2. pave + ing =
  3. tape + ing =

Every print draws a fresh mix of sentences at this level, so a make-up test or a second sibling gets a different sheet.

What's on each sheet

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

How to teach this

Pair this sheet with the doubling rule and let the twins meet: hoping needs the dropped e, hopping needs the doubled p, and the vowel sound tells them apart. A child who can explain why "wipping" fails both rules has genuinely mastered the system, not memorized the words.

Watch for: The e isn't deleted forever; it returns when the ending starts with a consonant: hopeful, careless. Bakeing and rideing are never correct; in words like these, the e yields to -ing.

Common questions about the drop-e rule

How is "hoping" different from "hopping"?
Different base words wearing different rules. Hope drops its e: hoping, long o. Hop doubles its p: hopping, short o. The vowel sound is the audible clue, and the sentence's meaning is the final judge. These pairs are favorite test items precisely because both spellings are real.
My child spells it "takeing." How do I fix it?
The error means the base word is spelled correctly and the rule just hasn't attached yet, which is good news. Have them write the base, physically cross out the e, then add -ing, for a handful of verbs a day. The crossing-out gesture builds the habit faster than corrections after the fact.

Related worksheets

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One page, answer key included. A fresh version every time you click.

Aligned to Common Core L.3.2.e. Reviewed by the One More Sheet curriculum team. Content version 68, updated July 2026.