English lessons › Past simple › -ed Sorter
Past simple spelling game: the -ed Sorter
Drag each verb into the basket that shows how it forms the past simple: work → worked, live → lived, study → studied, stop → stopped, or irregular go → went. The finished form appears in the basket.
-ed Sorter
What the game practises
The -ed Sorter practises past simple spelling: when you just add -ed, when only -d, when y changes to -ied, when you double the last consonant, and which verbs are irregular. The verbs are from levels A1 and A2.
The rules with tables and more exercises are in the lesson the past simple tense: -ed spelling and irregular verbs. Want all three forms of irregular verbs (go – went – gone)? Try the irregular verbs games Word Builder, Rally and Fish Feeding.
How to play
- Choose a level (A1 or A2) and a set of verbs. A round has 12 verbs.
- The base form is at the top, for example stop. Drag it into a basket, or just tap a basket (on a keyboard: Tab and Enter, or the numbers 1–5).
- The baskets: + ed (worked, visited, opened), + d for verbs ending in -e (lived, liked), y → ied (studied), double + ed (stopped, chatted) and irregular (went, had, saw).
- The finished form appears in the right basket. After a mistake you see one sentence with the rule.
- At the end you get your score, “Again” and “Next set”.
Verb sets: base form and past simple
Each level has sets of up to 8 verbs, about half regular and half irregular. You play the same sets in all four games; A2 also repeats the regular verbs from A1.
| Set | Verbs (base form – past simple) | |
|---|---|---|
| A1 · Beginner | ||
| 1 | put – put, work – worked, read – read, play – played, come – came, like – liked, run – ran, study – studied | Play → |
| 2 | drink – drank, stop – stopped, swim – swam, open – opened, find – found, watch – watched, think – thought, stay – stayed | Play → |
| 3 | buy – bought, live – lived, sleep – slept, try – tried, learn – learnt/learned, chat – chatted, meet – met, listen – listened | Play → |
| 4 | say – said, want – wanted, tell – told, love – loved, know – knew, cry – cried, take – took, write – wrote | Play → |
| 5 | speak – spoke, visit – visited, get – got, clean – cleaned, give – gave, dance – danced, do – did, cook – cooked | Play → |
| 6 | go – went, close – closed, see – saw, walk – walked, sit – sat, arrive – arrived, help – helped | Play → |
| 7 | be – was/were, start – started, have – had, finish – finished, make – made, ask – asked, eat – ate | Play → |
| A2 · Elementary | ||
| 1 | let – let, prefer – preferred, set – set, carry – carried, cost – cost, decide – decided, cut – cut, happen – happened | Play → |
| 2 | hit – hit, fix – fixed, hurt – hurt, explain – explained, shut – shut, play – played, become – became, shop – shopped | Play → |
| 3 | begin – began, worry – worried, sing – sang, hope – hoped, ring – rang, remember – remembered, win – won, relax – relaxed | Play → |
| 4 | bring – brought, work – worked, catch – caught, stay – stayed, fight – fought, drop – dropped, teach – taught, hurry – hurried | Play → |
| 5 | feel – felt, smile – smiled, keep – kept, answer – answered, leave – left, allow – allowed, mean – meant, watch – watched | Play → |
| 6 | lose – lost, grab – grabbed, burn – burnt/burned, marry – married, dream – dreamt/dreamed, move – moved, smell – smelt/smelled, offer – offered | Play → |
| 7 | spell – spelt/spelled, want – wanted, build – built, admit – admitted, send – sent, reply – replied, spend – spent, believe – believed | Play → |
| 8 | lend – lent, order – ordered, pay – paid, clean – cleaned, sell – sold, stop – stopped, stand – stood, copy – copied | Play → |
| 9 | understand – understood, agree – agreed, hold – held, open – opened, draw – drew, cook – cooked, fly – flew, chat – chatted | Play → |
| 10 | grow – grew, study – studied, throw – threw, invite – invited, blow – blew, listen – listened, show – showed, walk – walked | Play → |
| 11 | shake – shook, try – tried, drive – drove, receive – received, ride – rode, visit – visited, hide – hid | Play → |
| 12 | bite – bit, help – helped, break – broke, cry – cried, choose – chose, like – liked, start – started | Play → |
| 13 | wake – woke/waked, live – lived, steal – stole, finish – finished, wear – wore, love – loved, ask – asked | Play → |
| 14 | forget – forgot, dance – danced, fall – fell, close – closed, hear – heard, arrive – arrived, lie – lay | Play → |
Frequently asked questions
Where do play and stay go?
Into the + ed basket: a vowel + y stays, so played, stayed. The y only changes to -ied after a consonant: study → studied, try → tried.
When do you double the last consonant?
In a short verb that ends consonant–vowel–consonant and is stressed at the end: stop → stopped, chat → chatted, prefer → preferred. Not in visit or open (stressed at the start), and never after w, x or y (fix → fixed).
Why are verbs like learn or show missing?
They also have a regular-looking past form (learned, showed), so they don't fit into just one basket. The other three games practise them.