Plural of Crush: Rules, Examples, Usage, and Common Mistakes Explained

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Have you ever wondered how to talk about more than one “crush”—whether you mean several people you like, different crowds, or even multiple sodas? Understanding the plural form of crush is a small but essential detail in mastering English grammar. It’s a word that appears in everyday conversations, literature, and even pop culture. While the verb to crush has its own uses, this article focuses on the noun crush—exploring its plural form, meanings, and how to use it correctly in sentences.

Why does learning the plural matter? Using the correct forms improves your speaking and writing clarity, helps you avoid common mistakes, and allows you to express yourself more precisely—whether you’re telling friends about your high school crushes or writing a story for class. This article is designed for English language learners (ESL/EFL), students, teachers, writers, and grammar enthusiasts who want a deep, practical understanding of this everyday word.

Here’s what you’ll find below: definitions and meanings, step-by-step pluralization rules, usage examples in various contexts, a thorough breakdown of common mistakes, practical exercises with answers, advanced grammar notes, and a detailed FAQ section. Let’s dive in!

Table of Contents

3. Definition Section

3.1. What Is the Plural of ‘Crush’?

As a noun, crush most commonly refers to:

  • Romantic infatuation: a person you have strong feelings for, especially in a secret or youthful way.
  • A dense crowd: a large group of people pressed together.
  • Product/brand name: a type of soft drink (e.g., Orange Crush).

The plural of ‘crush’ is ‘crushes’.

Word Form Example Sentence
Singular: crush I have a crush on my neighbor.
Plural: crushes I had three crushes last year.

Remember, as a verb (to crush), the forms are different (crushes as a verb means “he/she/it crushes”), but this guide focuses on the noun.

3.2. Grammatical Classification

Crush is a countable noun. Countable nouns are items you can count (one crush, two crushes, etc.), and they always have a plural form. This means you can use numbers and quantifiers like many or several with them.

3.3. Function and Usage Contexts

Crush is used in various contexts:

  • Social/romantic: “She has a crush on her classmate.”
  • Crowd: “There was a crush at the entrance.”
  • Product/brand: “He bought an Orange Crush.”
Meaning Example Sentence
Romantic/Infatuation He talked about his crush for hours.
Crowd/Press The crush at the concert was overwhelming.
Product/Brand She drank a grape Crush with lunch.

4. Structural Breakdown

4.1. Regular Pluralization Rules for Nouns

Most English nouns form their plural by adding -s or -es. The choice between them depends on the noun’s ending:

  • Just add -s for most nouns: book → books.
  • Add -es for nouns ending in -ch, -sh, -s, -x, -z: dish → dishes, brush → brushes, crush → crushes.

‘Crush’ follows the regular rule for nouns ending in -sh: add -es to make the plural.

4.2. Spelling Patterns: Adding ‘-es’ to Nouns Ending in ‘-sh’

The rule: Nouns ending in -sh, -ch, -s, -x, -z → add -es for the plural.

  1. Identify the ending: Does it end in -sh? (Yes: crush.)
  2. Add -es to the base form: crush → crushes.
Singular Plural Example Sentence
crash crashes There were two crashes on the highway.
brush brushes She owns several brushes.
dish dishes He washed the dishes.
crush crushes He had many crushes in college.

Phonetic note: The -es ending adds an extra syllable (“iz” sound) for easier pronunciation: crushes = /ˈkrʌʃɪz/.

4.3. Pluralization in Different Tenses and Grammatical Roles

The plural noun crushes can be used as a subject, object, or in possessive forms:

  • Subject: Crushes can be embarrassing.
  • Object: He confessed his crushes.
  • Possessive: The girls’ crushes were a secret.

It can also appear in compound or complex sentences:

  • Although she had multiple crushes, she never told anyone.
  • His crushes, which he kept private, were a mystery.

4.4. Irregularities or Alternate Plurals?

There are no irregular or alternate plurals for ‘crush’. The only correct plural is crushes.

Note: When crush is used as a non-count noun (referring to a mass or crowd), it is rarely pluralized. Proper nouns or brand names (Orange Crush) are not usually made plural unless referring to different varieties.

5. Types or Categories

5.1. Types of ‘Crush’ as a Noun

  • Romantic/Infatuation: A person (or people) someone is attracted to.
  • Crowd/Press: A dense gathering of people (e.g., “a crush of fans”).
  • Brand/Product: A type of beverage (e.g., “Orange Crush”).

5.2. Pluralization Across Contexts

The plural crushes is used in all contexts, but meaning and frequency differ:

Type Singular Example Plural Example
Romantic/Infatuation I had a crush on my teacher. I had several crushes in high school.
Crowd/Press A crush of people blocked the exit. Crushes at concerts are dangerous.
Product/Brand I bought a Grape Crush. The store sells many different Crushes.

6. Examples Section

6.1. Basic Pluralization Examples

Here are simple sentences showing the singular and plural forms:

Singular Plural
I have a crush. I have two crushes.
My crush is in my class. My crushes are in my class and my club.
He told me about his crush. He told me about all his crushes.
That crush lasted for years. Those crushes lasted for years.
She wrote a note to her crush. She wrote notes to her crushes.
This is my first crush. These are my first crushes.
He has a secret crush. He has several secret crushes.
I met my crush at a party. I met my crushes at different parties.
My childhood crush was famous. My childhood crushes were all actors.
Who is your crush? Who are your crushes?

6.2. Examples by Context

Romantic/Infatuation Context:

  • She had several crushes in high school.
  • His crushes were always a secret.
  • Many teenagers experience multiple crushes.
  • I kept my crushes hidden from my friends.
  • They talked about their celebrity crushes.

Crowd/Press Context:

  • Festival crushes can be dangerous.
  • There were crushes at the stadium gates.
  • Police managed the crushes after the parade.
  • Crushes at big events cause safety concerns.
  • Firefighters responded to several crushes at the event.

Product/Brand Context:

  • The store sells many different Crushes.
  • He collects vintage Crushes from the 1960s.
  • They ordered three different Crushes to try.
  • Which Crushes do you like best—orange, grape, or strawberry?
  • There are seasonal Crushes on the menu.

6.3. Complex Sentence Examples

Complex Sentence with ‘Crushes’
Although she tried to hide her feelings, her friends soon discovered her many crushes.
The stories about his childhood crushes always made his parents laugh.
Because crushes can be intense, they sometimes lead to awkward situations.
He admitted that his crushes, which he kept private, were mostly on fictional characters.
After the concert, the organizers discussed how to prevent future crushes at the entrance.

6.4. Examples in Questions and Negatives

  • Do you have any crushes at the moment?
  • He doesn’t have any crushes right now.
  • Have you ever had more than one crush at a time?
  • They didn’t mention their crushes during the conversation.
  • Are crushes common in middle school?

6.5. Example Table Summary

Here are five summary tables to reinforce your understanding:

Table 1: Singular vs. Plural Forms
Singular Plural
a crush crushes
my crush my crushes
the crush the crushes
Table 2: Contextual Meanings of ‘Crushes’
Context Example
Romantic She had several crushes in college.
Crowd Festival crushes are risky.
Brand/Product They tried all the new Crushes at the store.
Table 3: Basic and Complex Sentences
Type Example Sentence
Basic He has many crushes.
Complex He talked about his crushes, which made everyone laugh.
Table 4: Questions and Negatives with ‘Crushes’
Type Example
Question Do you have any crushes?
Negative He doesn’t have any crushes.
Table 5: Common Collocations with ‘Crushes’
Collocation Example Sentence
secret crushes She never revealed her secret crushes.
childhood crushes We all remember our childhood crushes.
multiple crushes It’s normal to have multiple crushes as a teenager.
school crushes Her school crushes were mostly athletes.

7. Usage Rules

7.1. Standard Rule for Pluralizing ‘Crush’

Always add -es to ‘crush’ to form the plural: crushes.

This is because crush ends in -sh, and all such nouns take -es for their plural.

7.2. Correct Article and Quantifier Use

  • Singular: Use a or my/your/his/her/their with crush.
    E.g., I have a crush.
  • Plural: Use quantifiers like some, many, several, a few with crushes.
    E.g., I have many crushes.

7.3. Subject-Verb Agreement

With plural nouns, always use plural verbs:

  • Correct: Crushes are common among teenagers.
  • Incorrect: Crushes is common among teenagers.

7.4. Adjective Placement with Plural Nouns

  • secret crushes
  • embarrassing crushes
  • first crushes
  • old crushes
  • famous crushes

Adjectives come before the plural noun: “She had several embarrassing crushes.”

7.5. Common Collocations and Phrases

Common Collocations with ‘Crushes’
Phrase Example Sentence
childhood crushes We laughed about our childhood crushes.
school crushes Her school crushes were mostly on her classmates.
multiple crushes She admitted to having multiple crushes at once.
secret crushes He kept his secret crushes to himself.
embarrassing crushes We talked about our embarrassing crushes.

7.6. Exceptions and Special Cases

  • When crush means “a crowd,” it is usually non-count, but crushes is possible when talking about multiple events: “There were several crushes at different concerts.”
  • Proper nouns/brand names (e.g., “Orange Crush”) are not usually pluralized unless referring to types or bottles: “He collects different Crushes.”

8. Common Mistakes

8.1. Incorrect Plural Forms

Correct vs. Incorrect Plural Forms
Form Correct? Example
crushs No Incorrect: He has many crushs.
crushies No Incorrect: She had several crushies.
crushes Yes Correct: They have many crushes.

8.2. Confusion Between Noun and Verb Forms

  • Noun (plural): She has many crushes.
  • Verb (present): He crushes the cans before recycling.

Don’t confuse the plural noun with the verb form!

8.3. Misuse in Context

  • Incorrect: Crushes of people blocked the exits. (Rare, but possible. More natural: “A crush of people blocked the exits.”)
  • Correct: There were several crushes at the entrances during the event.

8.4. Subject-Verb Agreement Errors

  • Incorrect: Crushes is common in middle school.
  • Correct: Crushes are common in middle school.

Use the plural verb ‘are’ with ‘crushes’!

8.5. Overgeneralization

  • Not all nouns ending in ‘h’ take -es:
    cough → coughs (not coughes)
  • Only -ch, -sh, -s, -x, -z endings add -es.

Remember: ‘crushes’ is correct, but ‘coughs’ (not ‘coughes’), ‘baths’ (not ‘bathes’).

9. Practice Exercises

9.1. Fill-in-the-Blank (10 exercises)

  1. He had three ______ in college.
  2. She never told anyone about her secret ______.
  3. There were several ______ at the festival entrance.
  4. As a teenager, I had many ______.
  5. Which ______ do you like best—orange or grape?
  6. My first ______ was in elementary school.
  7. They laughed about their embarrassing ______.
  8. He collects vintage ______ bottles.
  9. The police managed the ______ after the parade.
  10. Have you ever had multiple ______ at once?

9.2. Correction Exercise (10 exercises)

  1. She has many crushs.
  2. He told me about his crushes of people at concerts.
  3. Crushes is common among teenagers.
  4. Who are your crush?
  5. I don’t have any crush right now.
  6. He crushes are all classmates.
  7. My friend has a lot of secret crushs.
  8. Those are my old crush.
  9. There were two crushies at the party.
  10. Festival crush is dangerous.

9.3. Identification Exercise (5 exercises)

Is the plural of ‘crush’ correct? (Yes/No)
Sentence Answer
He has several crushes.
She met her old crushes last week.
There were many crushs at the concert.
I had a crushes on my teacher.
My celebrity crushes are actors.

9.4. Sentence Construction (5 exercises)

  1. Write a sentence using ‘crushes’ to talk about more than one person.
  2. Write a sentence using ‘crushes’ to refer to crowds.
  3. Write a sentence using ‘crushes’ for different kinds of soda.
  4. Use ‘crushes’ in a negative sentence.
  5. Ask a question with ‘crushes’.

9.5. Context Matching (5 exercises)

Match the sentence to the correct meaning of ‘crushes’
Sentence Meaning (Romantic/Crowd/Product)
She laughed about her childhood crushes.
The crushes at the stadium were dangerous.
The store sells several flavors of Crushes.
He had multiple crushes throughout college.
Firefighters managed the crushes after the parade.

9.6. Answers and Explanations

Fill-in-the-Blank Answers

  1. crushes
  2. crushes
  3. crushes
  4. crushes
  5. Crushes
  6. crush
  7. crushes
  8. Crush
  9. crushes
  10. crushes

Explanations: Use ‘crushes’ for the plural except where the context is clearly singular (“My first crush…” and “Crush bottles…” where ‘Crush’ is the brand and usually not pluralized unless talking about types).

Correction Exercise Answers

  1. She has many crushes.
  2. He told me about the crushes of people at concerts. (Better: He told me about the crowds at concerts.)
  3. Crushes are common among teenagers.
  4. Who are your crushes?
  5. I don’t have any crushes right now.
  6. His crushes are all classmates.
  7. My friend has a lot of secret crushes.
  8. Those are my old crushes.
  9. There were two crushes at the party.
  10. Festival crushes are dangerous.

Explanations: Always use ‘crushes’ for the plural and ensure subject-verb agreement.

Identification Exercise Answers

He has several crushes. Yes
She met her old crushes last week. Yes
There were many crushs at the concert. No
I had a crushes on my teacher. No
My celebrity crushes are actors. Yes

Sentence Construction Model Answers

  1. She had several crushes during high school.
  2. Crushes at concerts can be very dangerous.
  3. The store offers different Crushes, including grape and orange.
  4. I don’t have any crushes right now.
  5. Do you have any crushes?

Context Matching Answers

She laughed about her childhood crushes. Romantic
The crushes at the stadium were dangerous. Crowd
The store sells several flavors of Crushes. Product
He had multiple crushes throughout college. Romantic
Firefighters managed the crushes after the parade. Crowd

10. Advanced Topics

10.1. Pluralization of Compound Nouns with ‘Crush’

When ‘crush’ is part of a compound noun, pluralize the main noun:

  • crush object → crush objects (not ‘crushes object’)
  • crush story → crush stories
  • crush experience → crush experiences

Rule: Pluralize the main noun in the compound, not the descriptive word.

10.2. ‘Crushes’ in Idioms and Fixed Expressions

  • There are no widely recognized idioms with ‘crushes’ as a plural noun. However, phrases like “childhood crushes” or “secret crushes” are common in informal conversation.

10.3. Pluralization in Reported Speech and Indirect Contexts

  • Direct: He said, “I have many crushes.”
  • Indirect: He said that he had many crushes.
  • Reported: She admitted her crushes were a secret.

10.4. Stylistic and Register Variations

‘Crushes’ is generally informal, especially in the romantic sense. In formal writing, words like ‘infatuations’ or ‘admirers’ may be used instead.

  • Informal: “I had so many crushes as a kid.”
  • Formal: “Adolescent infatuations are common.”

10.5. Corpus Analysis: Frequency of ‘Crushes’ in English

Frequency of ‘Crushes’ in Major English Corpora
Corpus ‘Crush’ (Singular) ‘Crushes’ (Plural) Context Notes
COCA (Corpus of Contemporary American English) ~3,200 ~420 Mostly romantic or crowd-related
BNC (British National Corpus) ~1,100 ~110 Romantic, some crowd

Note: The plural is less common than the singular but appears regularly in conversational and informal texts.

11. FAQ Section

  1. What is the correct plural of ‘crush’?
    The correct plural is crushes.
  2. Are there any exceptions to the pluralization rule for ‘crush’?
    No, ‘crushes’ is the only correct plural. There are no irregular forms.
  3. Can ‘crushes’ refer to more than people?
    Yes, it can also refer to crowds or types of drinks (brands).
  4. Is ‘crushes’ ever used for non-count meanings?
    Rarely. ‘Crush’ as a crowd is usually non-count, but ‘crushes’ can be used for multiple crowd events.
  5. Why do we add ‘-es’ instead of just ‘-s’?
    Nouns ending in -sh require ‘-es’ for correct spelling and pronunciation.
  6. How is ‘crushes’ pronounced?
    /ˈkrʌʃɪz/ (“KRUSH-iz”)
  7. Can I use ‘crushes’ as a verb?
    As a verb, ‘crushes’ is the third-person singular present form (e.g., “She crushes the cans”), not a plural noun.
  8. What are some common mistakes with ‘crushes’?
    Misspelling as ‘crushs’ or ‘crushies’, confusing noun and verb forms, and subject-verb agreement errors.
  9. How do I use ‘crushes’ in formal vs. informal English?
    It’s more common in informal speech; in formal contexts, use ‘infatuations’ or ‘admirers’.
  10. What are some synonyms for ‘crushes’ (in the romantic sense)?
    Infatuations, admirers, romantic interests.
  11. How do I avoid subject-verb agreement errors with ‘crushes’?
    Always use plural verbs with ‘crushes’: “Crushes are common.”
  12. Is ‘crushes’ used differently in US and UK English?
    No significant difference; both use ‘crushes’ for the plural.

12. Conclusion

Mastering the plural of ‘crush’ is straightforward once you know the rule: add -es to make ‘crushes’. This applies in all contexts, whether you’re talking about feelings, crowds, or soda flavors. Pay attention to subject-verb agreement, proper spelling, and context to avoid common mistakes. Practicing these forms will greatly improve your communication accuracy and confidence.

Even simple grammar points like this can make a big difference in your English proficiency. Continue practicing with the exercises above, and soon you’ll use ‘crush’ and ‘crushes’ naturally and correctly in any situation!

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