Join In Twitter YouTube Weekly Newsletter Libraries A-Z Grammatical Terms A-Z Confused Words FAQs by Writers A-Z Awkward Plurals Punctuation Lessons Common Mistakes
(ordered by seriousness) ESL Vocabulary Lists Parts of Speech Lists A-Z Idioms and Proverbs Tests and Games Top Tip Install a grammar checker
for your browser

Plural of Fish

by Craig Shrives

The Quick Answer

The plural of "fish" is "fish" or "fishes."

The Plural of Fish

The plural of "fish" is "fish" or "fishes."

Fish range in size from 8 millimeters to 16 meters.
Ana Ortiz plays my sister in "Sleeping with the Fishes." (Gina Rodriguez)

The plurals "fish" and "fishes" can be used interchangeably. However, biologists observe a distinction between "fish" and "fishes." In biology, "fishes" best translates as types of fish.

Our pond contains 3 fishes. There are about 100 fish in total.

Are You Good at Plurals?

Here's a quick test.

Getting ready...

The Standard Rules for Forming the Plurals

The table below shows the standard rules for forming the plurals of nouns in English.

Type	Example of Type	Forming the Plural	Plural
Most Nouns	cat scythe	add s	cats scythes
Noun Ending s, sh, ch, x or z	fish dress	add es	fishes dresses
Nouns ending [consonant] o	mango zero tomato	add either s or es (There are no rules for this - you have to know.)	mangoes or mangos zeros tomatoes
Nouns ending [vowel] o	patio ratio	add s	patios ratios
Nouns ending [consonant] y	story penny	change the y to an i and add es	stories pennies
Nouns ending [vowel] y	storey () donkey	add s	storeys donkeys
Nouns ending f or fe	dwarf knife	ves and/or s (There are no rules - you have to know.)	dwarfs knives
Exceptions	goose louse	some nouns undergo a vowel or letters change	geese lice
More exceptions	salmon fish	some nouns do not change at all	salmon fish

Why Is There Confusion over the Plural of Fish?

Confusion arises because "fish" and "fishes" are used interchangeably. For example:

He is sleeping with the fishes.
There are plenty more fish in the sea.

Of note, the verb "to fish" becomes "fishes" in the third person present tense.

Ready for the Test?

Help Us Improve Grammar Monster

Do you disagree with something on this page?
Did you spot a typo?

Find Us Quicker!

When using a search engine (e.g., Google, Bing), you will find Grammar Monster quicker if you add #gm to your search term.

Suitable for: Teachers, advanced students, and business writers.

Description: Published by London's Octopus Publishing, "Smashing Grammar" is the third, and most comprehensive, grammar reference book written by Craig Shrives (the founder of the Grammar-Monster.com). It is divided into three sections: