There are far too many useful words ending with “-s” to list, so this is mainly a list of words ending in “-es” and “-ies”. However, it also includes words that take “-s” in the plural because the singular already endings in “-e” but which have an “iz” pronunciation like “-es” endings. There is also a short list of the most useful words ending in “-s” which are always plural.
There is a similar list of irregular plurals in the article How to Teach Irregular Plurals.
Plurals that take es with an “iz” pronunciation and one added syllable (listed by level)
Elementary
- buses
- churches
- classes
- contact lenses
- eyelashes
- glasses
- sandwiches
- actresses
- faxes
- peaches
- princesses
- waitresses
Pre-Intermediate
- beaches
- boxes
- brushes
- businesses
- dishes
- dresses
- inches
- watches
Intermediate
- bonuses
- bosses
- branches
- foxes
- kisses
- losses
- pitches
- speeches
- switches
- taxes
- viruses
- weaknesses
- wishes
- witches
- witnesses
Upper Intermediate
- affixes
- arches
- atlases
- benches
- biases
- bunches
- bushes
- circuses
- coaches
- cockroaches
- crashes
- crosses
- gases
- guesses
- illnesses
- matches
- passes
- prefixes
- punches
- radishes
- remixes
- riches
- sketches
- sketches
- successes
- suffixes
- torches
- wishes
Advanced
- abscesses
- approaches
- batches
- blemishes
- blotches
- blushes
- breaches
- brooches
- buttresses
- carcasses
- censuses
- choruses
- clutches
- complexes
- congresses
- crutches
- dispatches
- ditches
- excesses
- finches
- flashes
- fortresses
- goddesses
- harnesses
- hutches
- irises
- lasses
- launches
- leeches
- marches
- marshes
- masses
- mattresses
- mistresses
- parishes
- patches
- pluses
- porches
- pouches
- presses
- rashes
- recesses
- reflexes
- scratches
- searches
- sexes
- skirmishes
- splashes
- stitches
- stresses
- thicknesses
- trenches
- winches
Plurals with just -s added but “iz” pronunciation and an added syllable (listed by level)
Elementary
- bookcases
- colleges
- fridges
- garages
- houses
- nurses
- oranges
- pages
- palaces
- pencil cases
- sausages
- spices
- suitcases
- teleconferences
- video conferences
Pre-Intermediate
- advantages
- ages
- ambulances
- blouses
- bridges
- chances
- changes
- choices
- conferences
- dances
- differences
- disadvantages
- diseases
- excuses
- exercises
- experiences
- faces
- horses
- images
- increases
- languages
- necklaces
- nieces
- noises
- offices
- phrases
- pieces
- places
- promises
- responses
- services
- sizes
- stages
- surprises
- text messages
- uses
- villages
- wages
Intermediate
- acquaintances
- appearances
- audiences
- cabbages
- carriages
- cases
- clauses
- coincidences
- compromises
- conferences
- courses
- databases
- divorces
- expenses
- finances
- hostages
- ounces
- packages
- pauses
- performances
- preferences
- prices
- prizes
- purposes
- purses
- references
- romances
- shoelaces
- sledges
- slices
- spaces
- sponges
- terraces
- voices
- voyages
- workplaces
Upper Intermediate
- absences
- abuses
- advances
- alliances
- allowances
- appliances
- assurances
- auspices
- averages
- badges
- beverages
- braces
- bruises
- cages
- carriages
- causes
- charges
- circumstances
- consequences
- cottages
- cruises
- damages
- devices
- discharges
- distances
- disturbances
- doses
- edges
- enterprises
- entrances
- exchanges
- fences
- forces
- fragrances
- franchises
- fringes
- fuses
- glances
- grievances
- hedges
- hinges
- impulses
- inferences
- influences
- injustices
- instances
- interfaces
- invoices
- licenses
- marriages
- masterpieces
- messages
- mortgages
- moustaches
- notices
- occurrences
- paces
- passages
- percentages
- phases
- pledges
- poses
- practices
- prejudices
- privileges
- provinces
- purchases
- releases
- residences
- resources
- ridges
- roses
- sacrifices
- senses
- sequences
- sources
- substances
- surfaces
- traces
- urges
- utterances
- vases
- verses
- vices
- warehouses
Advanced
- accomplices
- aces
- allegiances
- appendages
- bandages
- barges
- bases
- blockages
- breezes
- bronzes
- caches
- cartridges
- collages
- condolences
- conveniences
- creases
- crevices
- curses
- disappearances
- dispatches
- embraces
- essences
- forges
- furnaces
- gauges
- glimpses
- gorges
- greenhouses
- guises
- haunches
- hoses
- imbalances
- impedances
- lapses
- leakages
- ledges
- licenses
- lineages
- linkages
- lodges
- midges
- miscarriages
- muses
- novices
- nuances
- nuisances
- outrages
- partridges
- pilgrimages
- porpoises
- pretences
- prototypes
- purges
- racehorses
- reassurances
- recurrences
- refuges
- reminiscences
- remittances
- resonances
- reverses
- savages
- sieges
- silences
- stances
- stoppages
- summonses
- surges
- synapses
- syringes
- tolerances
- tortoises
- typefaces
- variances
- vestiges
- voltages
- wedges
List of plurals ending in ies by level
Elementary
- babies
- batteries
- butterflies
- celebrities
- cherries
- dictionaries
- documentaries
- factories
- French fries
- hobbies
- libraries
- nationalities
- photocopies stories
- strawberries
Pre-Intermediate
- accessories
- activities
- apologies
- buddies
- cities
- copies
- countries
- emergencies
- enquiries
- ladies
- memories
- parties
- raspberries
- similarities
- television personalities
Intermediate
- abilities
- allergies bodies
- bullies
- categories
- centuries
- charities
- difficulties
- disabilities
- discoveries
- duties
- galleries
- injuries
- necessities
- opportunities
- personalities
- replies
- responsibilities
- salaries
- spies
- strategies
- studies
- subsidiaries
- supplies
- tries
- universities
- varieties
- worries
Upper Intermediate
- allies
- anxieties
- authorities
- casualties
- ceremonies
- commodities
- communities
- controversies
- counties
- currencies
- deliveries
- democracies
- economies
- enemies
- facilities
- ferries
- flies
- galleries
- industries
- inequalities
- lorries
- luxuries
- ministries
- minorities
- mysteries
- obituaries
- policies
- priorities
- properties
- puppies
- quantities
- queries
- redundancies
- remedies
- societies
- theories
- victories
Advanced
- abnormalities
- adversaries
- agencies
- ambiguities
- amenities
- analogies
- annuities
- anomalies
- antibodies
- antiquities
- armies
- arteries
- atrocities
- autobiographies
- beauties
- beneficiaries
- boundaries
- capabilities
- capacities
- cemeteries
- certainties
- colonies
- commentaries
- competencies
- constituencies
- contemporaries
- contingencies
- curiosities
- daisies
- deficiencies
- deformities
- deities
- delicacies
- dependencies
- deputies
- destinies
- diaries
- dignitaries
- discrepancies
- disparities
- distilleries
- eccentricities
- embassies
- emissaries
- entities
- entries
- equities
- estuaries
- eventualities
- extremities
- fairies
- fantasies
- fatalities
- ferries
- festivities
- fisheries
- follies
- forgeries
- formalities
- functionaries
- galaxies
- hippies
- identities
- ideologies
- idiosyncrasies
- impurities
- inaccuracies
- inadequacies
- inconsistencies
- indignities
- inefficiencies
- insecurities
- intermediaries
- ironies
- irregularities
- laboratories
- liabilities
- localities
- loyalties
- luminaries
- melodies
- mercenaries
- mercies
- methodologies
- miseries
- missionaries
- monasteries
- monopolies
- municipalities
- nannies
- nappies
- necessities
- novelties
- obscenities
- oddities
- ovaries
- pansies
- pastries
- peculiarities
- penalties
- philosophies
- ponies
- poppies
- possibilities
- principalities
- prophecies
- qualities
- rarities
- refineries
- repositories
- robberies
- rubies
- sensibilities
- sensitivities
- signatories
- specialities
- specialties
- subsidies
- sympathies
- symphonies
- tapestries
- tendencies
- territories
- tragedies
- treaties
- tributaries
- utilities
- vacancies
- vagaries
- wellies
List of plurals ending in ys by level
Elementary
- boys
- days
- holidays keys
- toys
Pre-Intermediate
- ashtrays
- essays
Intermediate
- birthdays
- deejays
- delays
- highways
- journeys
- monkeys
- plays
- trays
- ways
- weekdays
Upper Intermediate
- alleys
- attorneys
- buoys
- cowboys
- displays
- guys
- homestays
- motorways
- screenplays
- surveys
- trolleys
- turkeys
- valleys
Advanced
- abbeys
- alleyways
- alloys
- archways
- arrays
- bays
- bellboys
- castaways
- chimneys
- choirboys
- cockneys
- convoys
- decoys
- donkeys
- doorways
- driveways
- dual carriageways
- envoys
- fairways
- homeboys
- jerseys
- jockeys
- joys
- kidneys
- lackeys
- medleys
- ospreys
- pageboys
- paperboys
- passageways
- pathways
- paydays
- playboys
- ploys
- pulleys
- quays
- relays
- runways
- schoolboys
- sickbays
- slipways
- stingrays
- storeys
- stowaways
- strays
- sunrays
- tomboys
- volleys
- walkways
- washdays
- waterways
List of plurals ending in oes by level
Note that there are many other possible -oes plurals that I probably wouldn’t teach, usually because an -os plural is also possible.
Elementary
- potatoes
- tomatoes
Pre-Intermediate
- heroes
- superheroes
Intermediate
- zeroes
Upper Intermediate
- echoes
- volcanoes
Advanced
- buffaloes
- embargoes
- torpedoes
- vetoes
- weirdoes
Words ending in s that are always plural (with no singular form without –s, listed by level)
The words below always take a plural form of the verb (“The jeans are…”). They are therefore different from singular and uncountable words ending in “-s” which take third person S such as “The news is…” and also different from words which end in “-s” in the both the singular and plural such “The series is/ are…”
Elementary
- clothes
- glasses (meaning spectacles)
- jeans
- pajamas/ pyjamas
- scissors
- shorts
- stairs
Pre-Intermediate
- congratulations
- headquarters
- pants
- trousers
Intermediate
- binoculars
- crossroads
- leggings
- stockings
- tights
Upper Intermediate
- contents
- goggles
- kitchen scales
- outskirts
- spectacles
- toiletries
- tongs
- tweezers
Advanced
- barracks
- bellows
- dregs
- dungarees
- flares
- forceps
- fumes
- gallows
- hot pants
- overalls
- pincers
- pliers
- quarters
- shears
- slacks
- vespers
Related articles:
- How to teach English plurals - Teaching tips, games and other classroom activities for regular and irregular plural nouns.
- How to Teach Irregular Plurals - Teaching tips and classroom activities for plurals without -s like "children", "sheep" and "alumni"