4th Grade Irregular Past Tense Verbs Worksheets
By 4th grade, the working set includes the harder changes: choose/chose, freeze/froze, tear/tore, swing/swung. Students also start separating the plain past from the past participle (wrote vs. written), a distinction that matters once perfect tenses arrive in 5th grade.
Free printable PDF, aligned to Common Core L.3.1.d. 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.
The kind of sentences you'll fix
Write the past tense of the verb in parentheses in the blank.
-
The small earthquake ______ (shake) our bookshelves early this morning.
Fixed: The small earthquake shook our bookshelves early this morning.
- Finn ______ (swim) the whole length of the pool yesterday.
- The thirsty horses ______ (drink) from the trough this morning.
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
- Fix it. Write the past tense of the verb in parentheses in the blank. 8 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. 10 questions per page.
Every version prints on US Letter or A4, with its answer key on the last page.
How to teach this
The new pitfall at this level is participle confusion: "she has wrote" or "the lake was froze." When a wrong answer like "written" or "frozen" appears in the choices, use it: ask when that form would be right (after has, have, or was). Five minutes on that question now saves grief in 5th grade perfect-tense work.
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
- What's the difference between "wrote" and "written"?
- Wrote is the plain past: she wrote a letter. Written is the past participle and needs a helper: she has written a letter. Mixing them ("she has wrote") is the classic 4th grade error, and it's why "written" shows up as a tempting wrong answer on these sheets.
- Which irregular verbs are appropriate for 4th grade?
- The less-frequent, harder-change set: choose/chose, freeze/froze, rise/rose, tear/tore, sweep/swept, swing/swung, steal/stole, wear/wore. They follow the same logic as the earlier verbs; there are just fewer daily chances to hear them, so worksheets carry more of the load.
Related worksheets
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Aligned to Common Core L.3.1.d. Reviewed by the One More Sheet curriculum team. Content version 68, updated July 2026.