English irregular verbs: the list of 200

All three forms of the 200 most common irregular verbs, ranked by how often you meet them. Switch between British and American forms, filter by pattern and open any verb for audio, examples and the mistake people make most.

Top 1–20The verbs you meet in every other sentence

#	Base form	Past simple	Past participle	Meaning
1	be	was / were	been	to exist, or to have a quality
2	have	had	had	to own, hold or experience something
3	do	did	done	to perform an action or a task
4	say	said	said	to speak words aloud
5	get	got	gotgotten	to obtain, receive or become
6	make	made	made	to create or produce something
7	see	saw	seen	to notice with your eyes
8	know	knew	known	to have information in your mind
9	go	went	gone	to move or travel to a place
10	take	took	taken	to carry or move something with you
11	think	thought	thought	to use your mind; to believe
12	come	came	come	to move towards the speaker
13	give	gave	given	to hand something to someone
14	find	found	found	to discover something you were looking for
15	tell	told	told	to give information to someone
16	leave	left	left	to go away from a place
17	put	put	put	to move something into a place
18	feel	felt	felt	to experience an emotion or a sensation
19	mean	meant	meant	to have a particular sense or importance
20	become	became	become	to start to be something

21–40Still everyday, still unavoidable

#	Base form	Past simple	Past participle	Meaning
21	hold	held	held	to have something in your hands
22	keep	kept	kept	to continue to have something
23	show	showed	shown / showed	to let someone see something
24	bring	brought	brought	to come with something or someone
25	set	set	set	to put something in position or make it ready
26	hear	heard	heard	to notice sounds with your ears
27	pay	paid	paid	to give money for something
28	begin	began	begun	to do the first part of something
29	meet	met	met	to see and talk to someone
30	write	wrote	written	to put words on paper or a screen
31	lead	led	led	to show the way by going first
32	lose	lost	lost	to be unable to find something
33	run	ran	run	to move fast on your feet
34	let	let	let	to allow someone to do something
35	send	sent	sent	to make something go to a person or place
36	stand	stood	stood	to be on your feet
37	win	won	won	to come first in a game or competition
38	build	built	built	to make something by putting parts together
39	read	read	read	to look at words and understand them
40	buy	bought	bought	to get something by paying for it

41–60Common in speech and in writing

#	Base form	Past simple	Past participle	Meaning
41	understand	understood	understood	to know what something means
42	spend	spent	spent	to use money or time
43	sit	sat	sat	to rest on a chair or seat
44	fall	fell	fallen	to drop down towards the ground
45	speak	spoke	spoken	to say words; to use a language
46	sell	sold	sold	to give something in exchange for money
47	draw	drew	drawn	to make a picture with a pencil or pen
48	cut	cut	cut	to divide something with a knife or scissors
49	learn	learned / learntlearned	learned / learntlearned	to get knowledge or a new skill
50	break	broke	broken	to make something go into pieces
51	catch	caught	caught	to take hold of something that is moving
52	prove	proved	provedproved / proven	to show that something is true
53	choose	chose	chosen	to decide which thing you want
54	grow	grew	grown	to become bigger, or to make plants live
55	seek	sought	sought	to look for or try to get something
56	rise	rose	risen	to go up; to become higher
57	lie	lay	lain	to be in a flat position, e.g. on a bed
58	forget	forgot	forgottenforgotten / forgot	to not remember something
59	deal	dealt	dealt	to handle something, or give out cards
60	drive	drove	driven	to control a car or other vehicle

61–80Where exam writing starts to need you

#	Base form	Past simple	Past participle	Meaning
61	eat	ate	eaten	to put food in your mouth and swallow it
62	hit	hit	hit	to touch something hard and with force
63	lay	laid	laid	to put something down carefully
64	wear	wore	worn	to have clothes on your body
65	throw	threw	thrown	to send something through the air with your hand
66	fit	fittedfitted / fit	fittedfitted / fit	to be the right size or shape
67	shoot	shot	shot	to fire a gun, or kick a ball at goal
68	fight	fought	fought	to use force against someone, or to argue
69	strike	struck	struck	to hit hard, or stop work in protest
70	hang	hung	hung	to put something up on a hook or wall
71	teach	taught	taught	to help someone learn something
72	shake	shook	shaken	to move quickly up and down or from side to side
73	stick	stuck	stuck	to fix something with glue, or get trapped
74	cost	cost	cost	to have a particular price
75	bear	bore	borne	to accept something unpleasant; to carry weight
76	beat	beat	beatenbeaten / beat	to defeat someone, or hit again and again
77	bind	bound	bound	to tie or fasten something tightly
78	drink	drank	drunk	to take liquid into your mouth and swallow it
79	ring	rang	rung	to phone someone, or make a bell sound
80	sleep	slept	slept	to rest with your eyes closed

81–100The first hundred done

#	Base form	Past simple	Past participle	Meaning
81	fly	flew	flown	to travel through the air
82	shut	shut	shut	to close something
83	spread	spread	spread	to open something out, or cover a surface
84	arise	arose	arisen	to begin to exist; to happen
85	hide	hid	hidden	to put something where no one can see it
86	undertake	undertook	undertaken	to take responsibility for a task and start it
87	feed	fed	fed	to give food to a person or animal
88	hurt	hurt	hurt	to cause pain or injury
89	light	lit / lighted	lit / lighted	to make something start to burn
90	burn	burnt / burned	burnt / burned	to be on fire, or damage something with fire
91	withdraw	withdrew	withdrawn	to take money out, or pull out of something
92	blow	blew	blown	to send out air from your mouth; to move in the wind
93	sing	sangsang / sung	sung	to make music with your voice
94	steal	stole	stolen	to take something that is not yours
95	bend	bent	bent	to make something curved, or move your body down
96	lean	leaned / leantleaned	leaned / leantleaned	to bend your body, or rest against something
97	cast	cast	cast	to choose actors; to throw light or a look
98	sweep	swept	swept	to clean the floor with a brush
99	ride	rode	ridden	to sit on a bike or horse and travel
100	swing	swung	swung	to move backwards and forwards from a fixed point

101–120Regular enough in books and news

#	Base form	Past simple	Past participle	Meaning
101	wake	woke / waked	woken / waked	to stop sleeping
102	split	split	split	to divide into parts, or break along a line
103	overcome	overcame	overcome	to succeed in dealing with a problem
104	upset	upset	upset	to make someone unhappy or worried
105	sink	sanksank / sunk	sunk	to go down below the surface of water
106	rid	rid	rid	to remove something you do not want
107	slide	slid	slid	to move smoothly over a surface
108	tear	tore	torn	to pull something apart, or make a hole in it
109	burst	burst	burst	to break open suddenly
110	lend	lent	lent	to give something for a short time
111	smell	smelled / smeltsmelled	smelled / smeltsmelled	to notice something with your nose
112	bite	bit	bittenbitten / bit	to cut into something with your teeth
113	freeze	froze	frozen	to become hard and cold like ice
114	dream	dreamt / dreamed	dreamt / dreamed	to see pictures in your mind while you sleep
115	leap	leapt / leaped	leapt / leaped	to jump high or a long way
116	dig	dug	dug	to make a hole in the ground
117	wind	wound	wound	to turn something round and round
118	bet	bet	bet	to risk money on the result of something
119	flee	fled	fled	to run away from danger
120	shine	shoneshone / shined	shoneshone / shined	to give out bright light

121–140Less frequent, still worth knowing

#	Base form	Past simple	Past participle	Meaning
121	forgive	forgave	forgiven	to stop being angry with someone
122	swear	swore	sworn	to use rude words, or to promise very seriously
123	spell	spelt / spelled	spelt / spelled	to say or write the letters of a word in the right order
124	undergo	underwent	undergone	to experience something, especially a change or something unpleasant
125	spring	sprangsprang / sprung	sprung	to move or jump suddenly
126	fling	flung	flung	to throw something somewhere with force, often carelessly
127	bid	bade / bid	bidden / bid	to say hello or goodbye to someone (formal); to tell someone to do something
128	breed	bred	bred	to keep animals so that they produce young
129	swim	swam	swum	to move through water using your arms and legs
130	plead	pleadedpleaded / pled	pleadedpleaded / pled	to ask for something in an emotional way; to say in court whether you are guilty
131	thrust	thrust	thrust	to push something somewhere suddenly or with force
132	speed	sped / speeded	sped / speeded	to move along quickly
133	spoil	spoiled / spoiltspoiled	spoiled / spoiltspoiled	to make something less good or enjoyable; to give a child too much
134	cling	clung	clung	to hold on tightly to someone or something
135	spin	spun	spun	to turn round and round quickly
136	creep	crept	crept	to move slowly and quietly so as not to be noticed
137	shed	shed	shed	to get rid of something; to let something fall off
138	mistake	mistook	mistaken	to think wrongly that someone or something is another person or thing
139	rebuild	rebuilt	rebuilt	to build or put something together again after it has been damaged
140	forbid	forbade	forbidden	to order someone not to do something

141–160The long tail begins

#	Base form	Past simple	Past participle	Meaning
141	grind	ground	ground	to crush something into powder
142	wet	wet / wetted	wet / wetted	to make something wet
143	spill	spilled / spiltspilled	spilled / spiltspilled	to let liquid flow out of a container by accident
144	weep	wept	wept	to cry, usually because you are sad (formal or literary)
145	uphold	upheld	upheld	to support a decision or law, or confirm that it is right
146	repay	repaid	repaid	to pay back money that you borrowed
147	offset	offset	offset	to balance one thing against another so that it has less effect
148	quit	quit / quitted	quit / quitted	to leave a job or school; to stop doing something
149	spit	spatspat / spit	spatspat / spit	to force liquid or food out of your mouth
150	swell	swelled	swollen / swelled	to become bigger, especially after an injury
151	dive	diveddived / dove	dived	to jump into water with your head and arms first
152	forecast	forecast / forecasted	forecast / forecasted	to say what will happen in the future, especially with the weather
153	awake	awokeawoke / awaked	awoken	to wake up, or to wake someone (formal)
154	kneel	kneltknelt / kneeled	kneltknelt / kneeled	to go down on your knees
155	shrink	shrank / shrunk	shrunkshrunk / shrunken	to become smaller, especially in hot water
156	input	input / inputted	input / inputted	to put information into a computer
157	overtake	overtook	overtaken	to go past a moving vehicle or person from behind
158	undo	undid	undone	to open something tied or fastened; to cancel the effect of something
159	broadcast	broadcastbroadcast / broadcasted	broadcastbroadcast / broadcasted	to send out programmes on television or radio
160	weave	wovewove / weaved	wovenwoven / weaved	to make cloth or a basket by crossing threads or strips over and under each other

161–180Rare, but they turn up in reading

#	Base form	Past simple	Past participle	Meaning
161	withhold	withheld	withheld	to refuse to give something
162	foresee	foresaw	foreseen	to know that something is going to happen before it happens
163	tread	trodtrod / treaded	trodden / trodtrodden / trod / treaded	to put your foot down while walking; to walk on something
164	sting	stung	stung	to hurt with a sharp pain, as an insect or plant does
165	strive	strove / strived	striven / strived	to try very hard to achieve something
166	string	strung	strung	to hang or tie things in a line, or put them on a thread
167	sow	sowed	sown / sowed	to plant seeds in the ground
168	misunderstand	misunderstood	misunderstood	to fail to understand someone or something correctly
169	sew	sewed	sewn / sewed	to join pieces of cloth with a needle and thread
170	withstand	withstood	withstood	to be strong enough not to be hurt or damaged by something
171	sling	slung	slung	to throw something somewhere carelessly; to hang something loosely
172	wed	wed / wedded	wed / wedded	to marry (old-fashioned, or used in newspapers)
173	mislead	misled	misled	to give someone the wrong idea or information
174	overhear	overheard	overheard	to hear what other people are saying without them knowing
175	overthrow	overthrew	overthrown	to remove a leader or government from power by force
176	override	overrode	overridden	to use your authority to reject someone’s decision
177	sneak	sneakedsneaked / snuck	sneakedsneaked / snuck	to go somewhere secretly and quietly
178	rewrite	rewrote	rewritten	to write something again in a different way
179	bleed	bled	bled	to lose blood
180	bust	bust / busted	bust / busted	to break something (informal)

181–200The last twenty, for completeness

#	Base form	Past simple	Past participle	Meaning
181	shear	sheared	shorn / sheared	to cut the wool off a sheep
182	beset	beset	beset	to affect someone or something badly, causing a lot of problems
183	strew	strewed	strewn / strewed	to scatter things over a surface
184	slay	slew	slain	to kill violently (old-fashioned or literary)
185	wring	wrung	wrung	to twist and squeeze something to get water out of it
186	stink	stank / stunk	stunk	to have a very bad smell
187	shoe	shodshod / shoed	shodshod / shoed	to put horseshoes on a horse
188	slit	slit	slit	to make a long narrow cut in something
189	saw	sawed	sawnsawn / sawed	to cut something with a saw
190	reset	reset	reset	to change a device back to a fixed or starting setting
191	overdo	overdid	overdone	to do something too much
192	rethink	rethought	rethought	to think again about an idea or plan, usually to change it
193	outgrow	outgrew	outgrown	to grow too big for something; to lose interest in it as you get older
194	unwind	unwound	unwound	to relax after work or stress; to undo something that has been wound
195	rewind	rewound	rewound	to make a tape or video go backwards
196	mislay	mislaid	mislaid	to put something somewhere and then forget where it is
197	overspend	overspent	overspent	to spend more money than you can afford or than was planned
198	babysit	babysat	babysat	to look after children while their parents are out
199	oversleep	overslept	overslept	to sleep longer than you intended
200	overeat	overate	overeaten	to eat more than you need