Three Sounds of Ed – Word Lists for t, d and id

All 72 words

List 1: -ed says t (jumped) 12

barked The seal barked on the rocks.
brushed He brushed the sand off his knees.
cooked Dad cooked noodles in the big pot.
finished She finished the puzzle before lunch.
jumped The frog jumped off the lily pad.
laughed Everyone laughed at the puppet's hat.
mixed I mixed blue and yellow to get green.
pushed She pushed the cart down the aisle.
splashed Rain splashed against the bus windows.
talked They talked quietly in the back seat.
walked A heron walked slowly through the shallows.
watched We watched the eclipse through special glasses.

List 2: -ed says t, base word changes (hopped, hiked) 12

bounced The ball bounced twice and rolled away.
flipped The cook flipped the pancake high.
hiked Our class hiked to the lookout tower.
hopped The toad hopped out of the watering can.
joked The coach joked about his lucky socks.
raced Two squirrels raced up the oak.
shopped We shopped for boots before the trip.
sliced Mom sliced the melon into wedges.
slipped The soap slipped out of my hands.
snapped A dry branch snapped under the swing.
tripped I tripped over a root on the trail.
wiped He wiped the whiteboard with a rag.

Show all 72 words (48 more)

List 3: -ed says d (played) 12

answered She answered with a shrug and a grin.
borrowed I borrowed a ruler from my partner.
cheered The crowd cheered for both teams.
enjoyed We enjoyed the play from the front row.
farmed Her family farmed that valley for years.
followed A stray cat followed us home.
gathered We gathered acorns under the big oak.
happened Nothing happened when I flipped the switch.
played Two kittens played with a paper bag.
remembered He remembered the password on the third try.
rolled Thunder rolled over the hills all evening.
warmed We warmed our hands by the stove.

List 4: -ed says d, base word changes (begged, hurried) 12

begged The puppy begged for a bite of toast.
hummed The fridge hummed in the quiet kitchen.
hurried We hurried inside when the thunder started.
jogged We jogged one lap to warm up.
loved My grandmother loved to whistle old tunes.
married My aunt and uncle married in June.
named We named the hamster after a planet.
shared The twins shared one big umbrella.
studied She studied the map before the hike.
surprised The quiet student surprised us with a solo.
tugged The kite tugged hard on its line.
worried I worried that the cake would sink.

List 5: -ed says id after t (wanted) 12

collected He collected smooth stones from the beach.
counted The clerk counted the coins twice.
greeted A friendly dog greeted us at the gate.
hunted We hunted for the missing puzzle piece.
invited She invited the whole class to the picnic.
pointed The guide pointed to a nest in the reeds.
printed The teacher printed a sheet for each table.
skated They skated in circles on the frozen pond.
tasted The soup tasted better the next day.
trusted The climbers trusted their ropes.
twisted He twisted the lid until it popped.
wanted The baby wanted the spoon, not the peas.

List 6: -ed says id after d (added) 12

added I added raisins to the oatmeal.
crowded Fans crowded around the trophy case.
divided We divided the grapes into four bowls.
ended The movie ended just before dinner.
folded We folded the paper into a crane.
guided A ranger guided us through the cave.
handed The clerk handed me the change.
loaded They loaded the canoe onto the trailer.
nodded The driver nodded and opened the door.
pretended We pretended the couch was a pirate ship.
reminded The smell of pine reminded me of camp.
sounded The plan sounded better at breakfast.

How this list was compiled: 72 past tense words chosen and sorted into 6 lists of 12 for Homeroom Tools. The choice, the sorting and the sentences are ours; no published list, program or workbook was opened or copied. THE THREE SOUNDS: that -ed adds a syllable after t or d, is said t after any other voiceless consonant and d after everything else is as given at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_verbs (Past tense) and in Wiktionary's entry for the suffix (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/-ed, CC BY-SA 4.0), both read on 9 October 2026. EVERY WORD: the base verb was looked up on 9 October 2026 in the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (https://www.ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q= plus the word). Each -ed form here is the only past form the dictionary prints for its verb; it prints a syllable dot before the ed in Lists 5 and 6 (want·ed) and none in Lists 1 to 4 (jumped, played). The sound of each ending was read in the Carnegie Mellon University Pronouncing Dictionary (https://github.com/cmusphinx/cmudict), which ends every word of Lists 1 and 2 in t, of Lists 3 and 4 in d and of Lists 5 and 6 in a vowel and d; hummed is not in it and was read in Wiktionary, where each of the 72 words has an English entry. LEFT OUT: verbs with a second past form in the dictionary (learned also learnt, spelled or spelt, dreamed or dreamt, burned or burnt, smelled or smelt, spilled or spilt, leaped or leapt, worked also wrought, shredded or shred) and forms the pronouncing dictionary gives the same sounds as another word (passed and past, missed and mist, guessed and guest, allowed and aloud, waved and waived, waited and weighted). Wicked, jagged, crooked and rugged, named on the page, are adjectives the dictionary gives two syllables. SENTENCES are ours, name no person, and none repeats a sentence in another list of this site (checked on 9 October 2026). Spellings are American. Licence: own work

How it works

The three sounds of ed are t, d and id: jumped, played, wanted. The spelling is -ed every time, so the ear has to do the sorting. Here are 72 words, two lists for each sound.

Read the full guide

The 3 sounds of ed word list, sound by sound

Lists 1 and 2 end in the t sound: jumped, laughed, hopped, hiked. Lists 3 and 4 end in the d sound: played, answered, hummed, hurried. Lists 5 and 6 add a syllable, id: wanted after t, added after d. In Lists 2 and 4 the base word changes: a doubled letter, a dropped e, or y turned to i.

Which sound -ed makes

Go by the last sound of the base word. After t or d, -ed says id: want, wanted. After a voiceless sound such as p, k, f, s, sh or ch it says t: jump, jumped. After anything else, vowels included, it says d: play, played.

Clap the beats: jumped and played have one, wanted has two.

Questions and answers

Why are learned, spelled and dreamed missing?

Each has a second past form in the dictionary: learnt, spelt, dreamt. Burned, smelled and spilled do too. A word with two right answers is left off a spelling list.

Why does -ed say id in wicked and jagged?

Those are describing words, not past tenses. A few of them have two syllables where the rule would give one: wicked, jagged, crooked, rugged. The dictionary lists each that way, and none is on these lists.

Which -ed words sound like another word?

Passed and past, missed and mist, guessed and guest, allowed and aloud. Pairs like these are left off, so the listener is never asked to choose between two spellings.