Random Verbs for Games, Grammar Practice, and Writing

The Random Verb Generator gives you a shuffled list of common English verbs. You can filter by type (action, everyday, mental, or irregular) and switch every verb to its base form, past tense, or -ing form. There are 314 verbs in total, and 88 of them are irregular.

This guide explains how the types and forms work, then covers the most common ways people use random verbs: games, grammar practice, and writing.

The verb types

| Type | Count | Examples | Best for | |---|---|---|---| | Action / physical | 130 | hop, juggle, sneeze, tiptoe, carve | Charades, Simon Says, kids' lessons | | Everyday | 109 | borrow, park, recycle, invite, spell | ESL vocabulary, daily-routine practice | | Mental / feeling | 75 | wonder, regret, cherish, estimate | Discussion, journaling, abstract vocabulary | | Irregular | 88 | go, catch, think, swim, freeze | Past tense drills |

The first three types do not overlap: each verb belongs to one group. Irregular is a cross-cutting filter that pulls every verb with an irregular past tense from all three.

The forms, and the spelling rules behind them

Every verb in the generator has its past tense and -ing form written out, so you never get "runned" or "stoping." For regular verbs, the forms follow the standard US spelling rules:

| Rule | Base | Past | -ing | |---|---|---|---| | Most verbs: add -ed / -ing | walk | walked | walking | | Silent e: add -d, drop e before -ing | dance | danced | dancing | | Short verb ending consonant-vowel-consonant: double it | stop | stopped | stopping | | Consonant + y: y becomes i before -ed | carry | carried | carrying | | Ending in -ie: becomes -y before -ing | tie | tied | tying | | Ending in -c: add k | panic | panicked | panicking | | Stress not on the last syllable: no doubling (US) | travel | traveled | traveling |

The last rule is where US and British spelling differ. British English writes travelled and cancelled; this generator uses the US forms traveled and canceled.

Irregular verbs do not follow the rules at all, which is why they are stored one by one: go / went, catch / caught, think / thought, read / read. The past tense shown is the simple past (I went), not the past participle (I have gone). Verbs with two accepted past forms in everyday US English, such as dive (dived or dove), were left out so every answer is unambiguous.

Choose All three forms to see base, past, and -ing side by side, like swim / swam / swimming. It is the quickest way to make a reference sheet.

Games

Charades. Generate 20 action verbs, write each on a slip of paper, and play in two teams with a one-minute timer. Action verbs are much easier to act than nouns, which makes this a good version for younger kids. For a mix of movies, animals, and actions, try the Charades Word Generator.

What am I doing? Switch the form to -ing. One player acts out the verb and the others guess with a full sentence: "You are juggling!" It is a painless way to practice the present continuous.

Verb tag. One player calls a verb from the list and everyone has to move that way (hop, crawl, tiptoe, march) until the next verb is called.

Grammar and ESL practice

Irregular past tense drill. Choose Irregular and Base form. Generate ten verbs, and have learners write the past tense of each. Then switch the form to All three forms and generate again for a fresh set with the answers built in. Because a batch never repeats a verb, ten rounds of ten will cover most of the list.

Yesterday stories. Generate five everyday verbs in the past tense, and have learners tell what they did yesterday using all five. "I borrowed a pen, parked the car, and forgot my lunch."

Sort the verbs. Generate 15 verbs on Any and have learners sort them into action, everyday, and mental. There is room for debate (is cook an action or an everyday verb?), which is exactly the point.

Writing

Random verbs make good constraints for short writing exercises:

• Five-verb story. Write a 100-word story that uses five random verbs in any order.
• Mood swap. Generate three mental / feeling verbs and write a short scene where a character moves through all three: wonder, then dread, then celebrate.
• Pair with an object. Generate a verb and an object with the Random Object Generator and write one sentence that combines them in an unexpected way.

These are common verbs on purpose. When you are revising your own writing and want a more vivid choice, use the Strong Verb Generator, which suggests precise replacements for weak verb-and-adverb pairs.

Teaching kids what a verb is

The simplest definition for young kids is "a verb is something you can do." Start with action verbs, because kids can perform them: generate five, have the class do each one, then ask them to use it in a sentence. Move on to everyday verbs once they have it, and save mental verbs (think, wonder, hope) for later, since those are the ones kids usually miss: you cannot see someone remember, but it is still a verb.

For nouns and adjectives to go with the verbs, the Random Noun Generator and Random Adjective Generator use the same kind of list format.