Nouns Used As Verbs List

Verbifying
This guide includes a handy nouns used as verbs list, along with teaching tools, a
definition, examples and an explanation of verbifying in English for kids.
Verbifying Definition
Verbifying (also known as verbing) is the act of de-nominalisation, which means

transforming a noun into another kind of word.
This process can be done by taking an already existing noun and simply switching the
context in which it is used. For example, we could say ‘the table is set’, but we could
also say ‘I want to table this meeting’. Verbifying is often a more informal tool within
language, but it is no less useful because of this.
Verbifying also refers to taking an adjective or a noun, and adding a suffix to it to

create a new word. We can see this in the words ‘horrify’, ‘terrify’ and even ‘verbify!’
This is the opposite of nominalisation, which means making nouns from other kinds of
words.
Top Twinkl Tip: If this seems like a daunting topic for your class, it might be worth
telling them that some of the most basic words in English — 'dress', 'dream', 'sleep',
'strike', 'talk' — are verbs identical in form to their parent nouns.
For a fun worksheet that will help your students to practise this skill in the classroom
setting, try this Is It A Noun Or A Verb Activity Pack. It includes a fortune-teller craft,
worksheets, and word cards.
Examples of nouns used as verbs
To further explain this idea, here is a list of nouns used as verbs within two different
example sentences:
Noun Verb
An act of kindness. Try to act surprised!
The cheat didn’t pass the test. It’s not nice to cheat in a test.
The bag ballooned with everything I was

The birthday balloon flew away.
carrying.
I had the hope of better weather

You have to hope things will get better.
tomorrow.
The vote was still to be counted. Are you going to vote in the competition?
These alternative Nouns Used As Verbs Worksheets are another great way to support
your class with this topic.
Verbifying with Suffixes
Verbifying with suffixes is another common approach within this subject. To verbify a
noun or adjective, we take the root word, and add a suffix like ‘-ate’, ‘-ify’ or ‘-ise’ to it.
For example, the word ‘liquid’ becomes ‘liquify’ and the word ‘terror’ could become
‘terrify’ or ‘terrorise’.
This system is perhaps even more common than nouns used as verbs in their root form
- so much that you might not realise you do this in your everyday speech.
You might like this fun PowerPoint on creating verbs with suffixes
Why do we verbify words?
Verbifying without the use of nominalisation (sometimes called ‘zero deviation’) can
get a bad reputation for sounding potentially too informal, depending on the situation.
Teachers often encourage their students to use ‘stronger verbs’, making use of suffixes.
While this is indeed a more formal and sophisticated approach, it should also be noted
just how creative and unique we can make our sentences by using a noun as a verb. It
can also make sentences more direct and punchy, as explored by the writer Henry
Hitchings.
When teaching a lesson on this topic, encourage your class to play around with using
nouns as verbs, learning which ones sound just fine on their own and which ones
require some adjustment.
You could also look at our range of resources on nominalisation, like this
nominalisation poster.
Nouns Used As Verbs List

When learning this topic, it is perhaps best to learn through example. Here’s a ‘nouns
used as verbs’ list that features words that you might come across in everyday speech.
Act
Address
Aim
Answer
Arrest
Attack
Auction
Back
Balance
Balloon
Ban
Beam
Bend
Cake
Call
Can
Chant
Cheat
Dance
Drink
Drive
Dye
Echo
Experience
Eye
Face
Fear
Guess
Glue
Head
Hope
Increase
Ink
Jam
Kiss
Label
Love
Lock
Make
Match
Oil
Parcel
Peel
Phone
Pick
Quiz
Race
Run
Reign
Scare
Search
Smile
Smoke
Sound
Shape
Tear
Trace
Track
Use
Vote
Wake
Waltz
Wear
Whisper
Yawn
Yield
As will be obvious from this 'nouns used as verbs' list, this appears everywhere within
English.
Let’s end with a video…
Looking for more ways to teach your class about nouns used as verbs? This video from
Ingrid looks at the above PowerPoint resource, explaining its usefulness in the
classroom in an accessible way. Click below for a range of videos on teaching topics
from the Twinkl YouTube channel:
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Verbifying

Verbifying (also known as verbing) is the act of de-nominalisation, which means

Verbifying also refers to taking an adjective or a noun, and adding a suffix to it to

Examples of nouns used as verbs

An act of kindness. Try to act surprised!

The bag ballooned with everything I was

I had the hope of better weather

Verbifying with Suffixes

Let’s end with a video…

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