Plurals of nouns ending in "f" or "fe"

No language can thrive without being able to express things in the plural; for example, two desserts are always better than one. As you know, most English nouns form their plurals by adding s or es. But things get a little tricky with words that end in f and fe. Test your knowledge by choosing the correct plurals for the words below.

1. Jennifer went to the bakery to buy three of bread.

loafs

loaves

both are correct

2. Luis has hundreds of books and not enough .

bookshelfs

bookshelves

both are correct

3. The children went out to play in the snow all bundled up in their and mittens.

scarfs

scarves

both are correct

4. It appears that the at the bank have all been broken into.

safes

saves

both are correct

5. Sophie got a box of embroidered from Great-Aunt Maude.

handkerchiefs

handkerchieves

both are correct

6. On his scuba diving trip, Rob saw fish swimming in the coral .

reefs

reeves

both are correct

7. Whenever we go camping, we always make sure to bring a couple of with us.

knifes

knives

both are correct

8. From the top of the building, we can see the of all the houses below.

roofs

rooves

both are correct

9. The took off running, and the police were not able to catch them.

thiefs

thieves

both are correct

10. There are no docks or on this bay.

wharfs

wharves

both are correct