Patterns
Irregular verbs aren't random. They rhyme.
15 vowel-shift families that group English irregular verbs by how they sound — i → a → u, ought/-aught, and more — instead of alphabetically.
ake → ook → aken
take / took / taken, shake / shook / shaken, mistake / mistook / mistaken.
7 verbs
-and → -ood
stand / stood, understand / understood, withstand / withstood.
4 verbs
eak → oke → oken
speak / spoke / spoken, break / broke / broken, freeze / froze / frozen.
9 verbs
ear → ore → orn
wear / wore / worn, tear / tore / torn, swear / swore / sworn.
4 verbs
-eep → -ept
keep / kept, sleep / slept, sweep / swept, creep / crept. Long vowel shortens and takes -t.
8 verbs
-ell → -old
sell / sold, tell / told. A two-member family worth its own drill because the pair is so commonly confused.
4 verbs
-end → -ent
send / sent, spend / spent, build / built. Final consonant devoices.
7 verbs
i → a → u
The classic ringing family: begin / began / begun, sing / sang / sung. Rhymes hard, which is exactly where audio drilling wins.
9 verbs
i → o → i+en
drive / drove / driven, write / wrote / written. Participle adds -en and shortens the vowel.
11 verbs
-ind → -ound
find / found, bind / bound, wind / wound, grind / ground.
5 verbs
No change
All three forms are identical: cut / cut / cut. The easiest family and a good confidence builder early in a session.
28 verbs
-ought / -aught
bring / brought, teach / taught, catch / caught. Spelling differs but the sound is one identical ending — an audio-first advantage.
7 verbs
ow → ew → own
blow / blew / blown, know / knew / known. Highly regular within the family once heard a few times.
13 verbs
Past = participle
Simple past and past participle share one form: keep / kept / kept. The largest family in English.
58 verbs
One of a kind
Verbs whose forms follow no reusable pattern: be, go, do, have. Pure memorization, and the highest-frequency verbs in the language — so they get drilled first regardless.
26 verbs