TOEIC Irregular Verbs: List, Rules, and Common Mistakes to Avoid (Complete Guide)

Irregular verbs do not follow the "-ed" rule in the past tense.

In the® TOEIC, they account for 40% of the grammar questions in Part 5 and appear in every professional context covered by the test.

The real challenge? Instantly recognizing which form to use when reading an email, a report, or an announcement.

For example: "The supplier has sent the invoice" (not "sended"). Organizing these verbs by professional situation (instead of alphabetically) allows you to memorize them 3 times faster.

Verbs for Meetings and Presentations

These verbs appear frequently in Listening dialogues (Part 3-4) and emails/announcements about meetings (Part 7).

Base	Past	Past Participle	Typical TOEIC® Context
hold	held	held	Hold a meeting, conference
lead	led	led	Lead a team, discussion
speak	spoke	spoken	Speak at an event
begin	began	begun	Begin a presentation
bring	brought	brought	Bring documents, materials
meet	met	met	Meet clients, colleagues
tell	told	told	Tell about results
give	gave	given	Give a presentation, feedback
show	showed	shown	Show data, slides
hear	heard	heard	Hear opinions, concerns
understand	understood	understood	Understand the proposal
think	thought	thought	Think about options
say	said	said	Say during the meeting
mean	meant	meant	Mean to clarify
come	came	come	Come to the meeting
sit	sat	sat	Sit in the conference room
stand	stood	stood	Stand to present
leave	left	left	Leave the meeting early
forget	forgot	forgotten	Forget to mention
spend	spent	spent	Spend time discussing

Typical Part 7 Example:

"The keynote speaker will give a presentation on market trends, and participants who come early can meet with industry experts."

Verbs for Emails and Communications

These verbs dominate Part 7 (emails, correspondence) and Part 5 (sentences about internal communication).

Base	Past	Past Participle	Typical TOEIC® Context
write	wrote	written	Write emails, reports
send	sent	sent	Send messages, files
receive	received	received	Receive confirmation
read	read	read	Read the memo
reply	replied	replied	Reply to inquiries (regular but useful)
forward	forwarded	forwarded	Forward information (regular)
make	made	made	Make a request
let	let	let	Let someone know
tell	told	told	Tell about changes
know	knew	known	Know the details
find	found	found	Find attached
see	saw	seen	See below
hear	heard	heard	Hear from you soon
get	got	got/gotten	Get in touch
keep	kept	kept	Keep informed
put	put	put	Put in the subject line
understand	understood	understood	Understand the instructions
feel	felt	felt	Feel free to contact
think	thought	thought	Think it's important

Frequent Part 5 Trap:

"Please find the updated schedule attached." (not "attach")

Verbs for Reports and Analysis

You encounter these in analytical texts (Part 7) and sentences regarding financial results (Part 5-6).

Base	Past	Past Participle	Typical TOEIC® Context
show	showed	shown	Show results, trends
find	found	found	Find that sales increased
become	became	become	Become the leader
grow	grew	grown	Grow by 15%
rise	rose	risen	Rise significantly
fall	fell	fallen	Fall below expectations
go	went	gone	Go up, go down
cost	cost	cost	Cost less than predicted
lose	lost	lost	Lose market share
win	won	won	Win new contracts
sell	sold	sold	Sell more units
buy	bought	bought	Buy new equipment
spend	spent	spent	Spend on marketing
pay	paid	paid	Pay suppliers
set	set	set	Set new records
break	broke	broken	Break even
hit	hit	hit	Hit targets
meet	met	met	Meet goals
beat	beat	beaten	Beat competitors
cut	cut	cut	Cut costs
forecast	forecast	forecast	Forecast revenues

Part 6 Example:

"Sales have risen by 12% this quarter, and the company has set a new record for annual revenue."

Verbs for Human Resources and Recruiting

These verbs appear in job postings, HR policies (Part 7), and questions about staff (Part 5).

Base	Past	Past Participle	Typical TOEIC® Context
hire	hired	hired	Hire new employees (regular)
choose	chose	chosen	Choose candidates
become	became	become	Become a manager
take	took	taken	Take a position
leave	left	left	Leave the company
begin	began	begun	Begin employment
quit	quit	quit	Quit the job
lead	led	led	Lead a department
build	built	built	Build a team
teach	taught	taught	Teach new skills
learn	learned/learnt	learned/learnt	Learn procedures
train	trained	trained	Train staff (regular)
promote	promoted	promoted	Promote to senior role (regular)
give	gave	given	Give notice
get	got	got/gotten	Get promoted
make	made	made	Make a decision
offer	offered	offered	Offer a contract (regular)
sign	signed	signed	Sign an agreement (regular)
understand	understood	understood	Understand benefits
know	knew	known	Know company policies

Part 7 Example:

"We have chosen three finalists and will make a hiring decision by Friday."

Verbs for Business Travel and Trips

Frequent in travel advisories (Part 7), airport/hotel dialogues (Part 3), and expense reports.

Base	Past	Past Participle	Typical TOEIC® Context
go	went	gone	Go on a business trip
come	came	come	Come back from abroad
fly	flew	flown	Fly to the conference
leave	left	left	Leave for Tokyo
take	took	taken	Take a flight
drive	drove	driven	Drive to the site
ride	rode	ridden	Ride the shuttle
catch	caught	caught	Catch a train
miss	missed	missed	Miss a connection (regular)
arrive	arrived	arrived	Arrive at the hotel (regular)
depart	departed	departed	Depart on time (regular)
bring	brought	brought	Bring luggage
forget	forgot	forgotten	Forget passport
lose	lost	lost	Lose baggage
find	found	found	Find accommodation
book	booked	booked	Book a room (regular)
stay	stayed	stayed	Stay overnight (regular)
choose	chose	chosen	Choose a hotel
spend	spent	spent	Spend two nights
meet	met	met	Meet overseas clients

Typical Part 3 (Dialogue) Example:

"I flew to Seoul last week and met with our partners there."

Verbs for Production and Operations

You see these in texts about manufacturing, logistics, and processes (Part 6-7).

Base	Past	Past Participle	Typical TOEIC® Context
make	made	made	Make products
build	built	built	Build facilities
design	designed	designed	Design new models (regular)
create	created	created	Create prototypes (regular)
produce	produced	produced	Produce goods (regular)
manufacture	manufactured	manufactured	Manufacture components (regular)
develop	developed	developed	Develop solutions (regular)
build	built	built	Build infrastructure
set	set	set	Set up equipment
run	ran	run	Run operations
begin	began	begun	Begin production
shut	shut	shut	Shut down temporarily
speed	sped	sped	Speed up delivery
deal	dealt	dealt	Deal with issues
handle	handled	handled	Handle logistics (regular)
ship	shipped	shipped	Ship orders (regular)
send	sent	sent	Send shipments
bring	brought	brought	Bring supplies
take	took	taken	Take inventory
keep	kept	kept	Keep stock levels
hold	held	held	Hold materials
put	put	put	Put in storage
lay	laid	laid	Lay foundations
wear	wore	worn	Wear safety gear
break	broke	broken	Break down (machinery)
fix	fixed	fixed	Fix equipment (regular)
repair	repaired	repaired	Repair tools (regular)

Verbs for Decisions and Planning

Essential for Part 5-6 (strategic contexts) and Part 7 (memos on strategies).

Base	Past	Past Participle	Typical TOEIC® Context
choose	chose	chosen	Choose a strategy
decide	decided	decided	Decide on actions (regular)
make	made	made	Make decisions
take	took	taken	Take measures
set	set	set	Set objectives
plan	planned	planned	Plan initiatives (regular)
think	thought	thought	Think about options
consider	considered	considered	Consider proposals (regular)
agree	agreed	agreed	Agree on terms (regular)
approve	approved	approved	Approve budgets (regular)
recommend	recommended	recommended	Recommend changes (regular)
propose	proposed	proposed	Propose solutions (regular)
suggest	suggested	suggested	Suggest improvements (regular)
discuss	discussed	discussed	Discuss plans (regular)
review	reviewed	reviewed	Review options (regular)
evaluate	evaluated	evaluated	Evaluate results (regular)
determine	determined	determined	Determine priorities (regular)
establish	established	established	Establish guidelines (regular)
know	knew	known	Know the risks
understand	understood	understood	Understand implications
mean	meant	meant	Mean to implement
seek	sought	sought	Seek approval
bring	brought	brought	Bring ideas
put	put	put	Put forward proposals
come	came	come	Come up with solutions
feel	felt	felt	Feel confident about

Verbs for Purchasing and Contracts

Frequent in purchase orders, invoices, and negotiations (Part 7).

Base	Past	Past Participle	Typical TOEIC® Context
buy	bought	bought	Buy supplies
sell	sold	sold	Sell products
pay	paid	paid	Pay invoices
cost	cost	cost	Cost $5000
spend	spent	spent	Spend budget
charge	charged	charged	Charge fees (regular)
bid	bid	bid	Bid on contracts
win	won	won	Win the tender
lose	lost	lost	Lose the deal
get	got	got/gotten	Get a discount
give	gave	given	Give a quote
offer	offered	offered	Offer terms (regular)
negotiate	negotiated	negotiated	Negotiate prices (regular)
sign	signed	signed	Sign contracts (regular)
make	made	made	Make an offer
order	ordered	ordered	Order materials (regular)
deliver	delivered	delivered	Deliver goods (regular)
send	sent	sent	Send payment
receive	received	received	Receive shipment (regular)
owe	owed	owed	Owe money (regular)
lend	lent	lent	Lend resources
borrow	borrowed	borrowed	Borrow equipment (regular)

The 3 Catastrophic Mistakes (and How to Avoid Them)

Among the candidates we follow, three mistakes occur constantly and cost between 20 and 50 points in total.

Mistake 1: Confusing the A-B-C Forms

Verbs like write/wrote/written or choose/chose/chosen are the trickiest.

The contract was wrote last month. ✗
The contract was written last month. ✓

After "was/were," you ALWAYS use the past participle (3rd column), never the simple past (2nd column)!

Mistake 2: Forgetting "have/has" in the Present Perfect

The supplier sent the invoice three times this week. (simple past)
The supplier has sent the invoice three times this week. (present perfect) ✓

With "this week/month/year" (an unfinished period), you must use "has/have + past participle."

Mistake 3: Reflexively Applying "-ed"

After years of studying English, your brain automates "-ed." Hence: "choosed," "sended," "builded."

Reflex Check: When you hesitate on a common verb (go, make, take, send, write, know), it's likely irregular.

On Flow Exam, you can practice directly on the Irregular Verbs topic in the exact same format as the TOEIC®. So, if you struggle with this topic, you will never make the same mistakes again.

Learning Method by Context (Truly Effective)

Even among candidates who already have access to a preparation platform through their school, memorization via alphabetical lists fails.
The reason is simple: these tools emphasize the rule, but rarely the reflex needed under pressure.

Step 1: Choose ONE context (e.g., "emails"). Focus on the 15-20 verbs in that category for 3 days.
Step 2: Create 5 realistic TOEIC® sentences per day using these verbs. Example: "I have sent the report and attached the financial data."
Step 3: Practice targeted Part 5 questions (4 choices, 10 seconds per question). Passive recognition is not enough.
Step 4: In 6 weeks, you will cover all professional contexts with lasting memorization.

The candidates who progress the fastest have one thing in common: they categorize their errors (context + type of confusion) instead of just redoing random exercises.

Quick Checklist by Sentence Context

TOEIC® Text Type	Frequent Irregular Verbs	Main Trap
Email/Memo	send, write, receive, find, get, let, know	Confusing "sent" and "send" after "was"
Financial Report	show, grow, rise, fall, sell, cost, meet, set	Forgetting "have" before "risen/grown"
Job Posting	choose, become, take, lead, give, make	Mixing up "chose" and "chosen"
Business Travel	go, fly, leave, take, bring, meet	"Gone" vs "went" depending on context
Meeting	hold, give, speak, begin, bring, meet	Forgetting "held" after "was"
Production	make, build, run, set, shut, break	Past participle after "been"
Contracts	buy, sell, pay, win, sign, send	"Bought" vs "brought" (common confusion)

Ready to Practice?

Irregular verbs by professional context represent a strategy 3 times more effective than alphabetical learning.

The classic mistake: learning lists unrelated to TOEIC® situations and cracking under pressure on test day.

On Flow Exam, you can practice directly on the Irregular Verbs topic in Part 5, with thousands of questions in the exact same format as the official TOEIC®.

So, if you struggle with this topic, you will never make the same mistakes again.

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