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Irregular Past Tense Verbs Worksheet — Grade 5

Grade 5 practice sheet drilling common irregular past tense verbs like swam, threw, and froze through identification, choice, and correction tasks.

English verbs fall into two groups for the past tense. Most add -ed and cause little trouble. A smaller group — irregular verbs — changes spelling completely, and those changes must simply be memorized. By fifth grade, students meet irregular past forms in everything they read, yet many still write thinked, swammed, or wored when they mean thought, swam, or wore. This worksheet gives students four kinds of practice: spotting the irregular form in a real sentence, choosing the correct form from three options, fixing errors in written sentences, and writing an original sentence on their own. Working through the sheet in order builds confidence before students tackle open-ended writing.

Irregular Past Tense Verbs Worksheet — Grade 5

This worksheet practices irregular past tense verbs. Work through each part carefully and use the rule box at the top to help you.

Remember

  • Irregular verbs do not add -ed for the past tense — their spelling changes completely.
  • Examples: swim became swam, throw became threw, wear became wore, keep became kept.
  • When you write about something that already happened, check irregular verbs carefully.

Part A — Spot the Irregular Past Tense Verb

Circle the irregular past tense verb in each sentence.

  1. 1.

    Last summer, Diego swam across the entire pool without stopping for a break.

  2. 2.

    Yesterday morning, Keisha wore her new jacket to the science fair at school.

  3. 3.

    Last Friday, the pitcher threw the ball faster than anyone on our team expected.

  4. 4.

    Lena kept all her science notes in a special binder throughout last semester.

  5. 5.

    Our class met the new principal at the school assembly last Thursday.

Part B — Choose the Correct Past Tense Form

Choose the correct irregular past tense form to complete each sentence.

  1. 6.

    Last night, Amara ____ her permission slip on the kitchen counter.

    1. a)leaved
    2. b)left
    3. c)leave
  2. 7.

    During the science experiment on Monday, the water ____ when we cooled it.

    1. a)freezed
    2. b)frozen
    3. c)froze
  3. 8.

    Jaylen ____ his lunch at home this morning, so he bought a school lunch.

    1. a)forgotted
    2. b)forgot
    3. c)forget
  4. 9.

    Last month, our school chorus ____ a song at the winter concert downtown.

    1. a)singed
    2. b)sang
    3. c)sung
  5. 10.

    The student council ____ the fundraiser profits to buy new library books last week.

    1. a)spended
    2. b)spent
    3. c)spend

Part C — Fix the Mistake

Each sentence has one incorrect verb form. Rewrite the sentence with the correct irregular past tense verb.

  1. 11.

    Marcus thinked about his answer for a long time before he spoke yesterday.

  2. 12.

    The river rised quickly after the heavy rain last weekend.

  3. 13.

    Our team winned the spelling bee competition at school last Tuesday.

  4. 14.

    Suki breaked her pencil while working on the math test last Thursday.

Part D — Write Your Own

Write one sentence about something you did last week. Use the past tense of choose, drink, or speak.

  1. 15.

    Write one sentence about something you did last week. Use the past tense of choose, drink, or speak.

Answer key

Part A — Spot the Irregular Past Tense Verb

  1. 1.swam
  2. 2.wore
  3. 3.threw
  4. 4.kept
  5. 5.met

Part B — Choose the Correct Past Tense Form

  1. 6.left
  2. 7.froze
  3. 8.forgot
  4. 9.sang
  5. 10.spent

Part C — Fix the Mistake

  1. 11.Marcus thought about his answer for a long time before he spoke yesterday.
  2. 12.The river rose quickly after the heavy rain last weekend.
  3. 13.Our team won the spelling bee competition at school last Tuesday.
  4. 14.Suki broke her pencil while working on the math test last Thursday.

Part D — Write Your Own

  1. 15.Example: Last Monday, I chose a book about ocean animals from the school library.

What this worksheet teaches

  • Identify irregular past tense verbs in sentences by recognizing changed spelling forms.
  • Choose the correct irregular past tense form from three options and explain why it fits.
  • Rewrite sentences that contain incorrect irregular past tense forms using the right verb.

What is on the page

Part B — Choose the Correct Past Tense Form prints “Last night, Amara ____ her permission slip on the kitchen counter.” with the options “leaved”, “left” and “leave”; the key gives “left”.

In Part C — Fix the Mistake, “Marcus thinked about his answer for a long time before he spoke yesterday.” is corrected in the key to “Marcus thought about his answer for a long time before he spoke yesterday.”

The language it drills

“Last summer, Diego swam across the entire pool without stopping for a break.” has one answer in the key: “swam”.

Notes for the grown-up

  • Students often add -ed to irregular verbs, writing thinked, swimmed, or weared instead of the correct past form.
  • Have the student say both forms aloud — thinked sounds wrong, thought sounds right — to build self-correction habits.
  • A student is ready to move on when they catch their own irregular verb errors during editing without prompting.

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