101 Nouns That Are Also Verbs

In the world of grammar, some words do double-duty by serving as more than just one part of speech. Though we often spend a good deal of time drilling students on the big differences between nouns and verbs, some words can actually be both. In fact, it happens more often than you might think, and once you start to notice this phenomenon, you’ll see these special words everywhere.

The Difference Between Nouns and Verbs

A quick refresher: Nouns are words that represent a person, place, thing or idea. They often serve as the subject of a sentence; that is, the thing that performs an action. For example:

The girl hugged the cat.

In this sentence, the girl is a noun that stand for a person, and the person is performing the act of hugging.

Notice that there’s another noun in the sentence, too: cat. This noun is not performing the action but is instead being acted upon. This noun is the object.

Verbs, on the other hand, are the action words in a sentence. In the above example, hugged is the verb, or the action the girl performs. Verbs come in all sorts of tenses,but their function is always the same: to show what’s happening in the sentence.

When Nouns and Verbs Collide

Some words can be used as both nouns (things) and verbs (actions). Their usage may sometimes change their pronunciation, but it’s often simply context clues that make all the difference in your understanding. For example:

Nouns that are also verbs

In this sentence, the first use of “attack” is a noun; the second is a verb. “Attack” is pronounced the same in both cases.

Though the boy tried to use his broken alarm clock as an excuse, the teacher would not excuse his absence on the day of the final exam.

In the sentence above, the first use of “excuse” is a noun; the second is a verb. Note that the pronunciation of the word changes depending on its usage. As a noun, “excuse” uses a softs “s” sound, but as a verb it uses a “z” sound instead.

A List of Verbs That Are Also Nouns

Though it’s hardly a complete list, you can share hundreds of examples of words that are both nouns and verbs with your students. Try these on for size:

actaddress

aim

answer

back

balloon

bank

battle

bear

bend

blast

block

break

brush

catch

challenge

charge

cheer

color

cook

crack

curl

cycle

dance

design

diedivorce

double

doubt

dust

echo

end

estimate

face

finish

fish

flood

fool

frown

garden

glue

guard

guess

hammer

hand

head

hug

insult

iron

joke

kickkiss

laugh

loan

love

man

march

milk

name

number

object

order

paddle

peel

permit

play

pop

practice

produce

punch

question

quiz

rhyme

rock

roll

runsand

saw

skate

smell

surprise

thunder

tie

time

toast

trace

train

treat

trick

use

vacuum

value

visit

wake

walk

water

wish

work

x-ray

yawn

zone

Want to print a practice worksheet?  Nouns that are also verbs worksheet

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