Foxes is not a word

Sometimes, we’re met with difficult possessive form rules when words end with “S’s.” What happens to words that end in “X,” like “fox?” Do they follow the same confusing rules, or are they more uniform? This article will look at the correct possessive form of “fox.”

Foxes or Fox’s or Fox’: Which Is The Correct Possessive Form?

“Fox’s” is the correct possessive form of “fox” in the singular. We use it to talk about one “fox” owning an object in a sentence. There are no cases where “fox’” is correct because we need to include the extra “S” after the apostrophe to highlight the possessive.

While “X” endings make an “S” noise, that doesn’t mean the “S” ending after the apostrophe needs to be dropped. We only ever dropped the “S” in that way when the word ends with an “S” (and even then, it only gets dropped when the following word starts with an “S”).

You can see the possessive forms in the following:

We keep the “S” after the apostrophe in the singular possessive form. And, like most plural possessive forms, we drop the “S” after the apostrophe with the plural possessive “foxes’.”

We’ll start by explaining the plural form. It’s definitely the easiest of the three to use because it doesn’t come with any possessive rules that you need to worry about.

“Foxes” is the plural form of “fox.” We use it to talk about more than one “fox.” We add an “-es” to the end of the word because “fox” ends with an “X,” which needs an extra letter before the “S” in the plural form.

• Correct: Foxes
• Incorrect: Foxs

We can’t just place an “S” at the end of the word, as you can see from the above examples.

Now let’s show you how the plural form looks in a sentence:

1. The foxes could be back any minute, so we must be careful.
2. I haven’t spotted any foxes out on my walk today!
3. There are no foxes around here that are worth looking for.
4. We haven’t got the foxes out of our garden yet!
5. There are too many foxes around the chicken coop!

As you can see, “foxes” only refers to more than one “fox” (often a family or pack of “foxes”). There is no mention of an object that any of the “foxes” own because it is not a possessive form.

Fox’s

“Fox’s” is the singular possessive form and the first possessive form we want to touch on.

You should use “fox’s” when talking about a singular “fox” owning an object in a sentence. We do this by placing the object directly after “fox’s” when written to indicate what is owned by the fox.

The possessive form is indicated by including an apostrophe and an “S” letter after the singular word “fox.” This is how we distinguish it as the singular possessive form. It should only ever relate to one “fox.”

Here’s how it works:

1. The fox’s biscuits are in the cupboard over there.
2. The fox’s den must be around here somewhere.
3. Did you see that fox’s tail in the bushes?
4. My fox’s coat is so shiny because of the shampoo I use on him!
5. The fox’s family is around here somewhere, and we must look after it!

“Fox’s” refers to one “fox” owning an object. As you’ll notice in the above examples, the object comes directly after “fox’s,” while we treat “fox” as the subject of the sentence.

Foxes’

There is one other possessive form that we need to go through. “Foxes’” is the plural possessive form. While it’s not as common as the singular one, there are still a few ways you can use it.

“Foxes’” is the plural possessive form that we use to talk about more than one “fox” owning an object or group of similar objects in a sentence. It works by taking the plural form “foxes” and adding an apostrophe to its end.

We don’t need to include the extra “S” this time. That’s because the plural form of “foxes” already ends with an “S.” Adding an extra “S” would look clunky and be difficult to pronounce:

• Foxes’s

That’s why we drop it and keep it to the more streamlined “foxes’.” It’s much easier to pronounce this way.

You should refer to these examples to help you understand it:

1. The foxes’ dens must be around this hill somewhere.
2. You haven’t seen the foxes’ footprints around here, have you?
3. I haven’t got my foxes’ cages in place yet!
4. The foxes’ families are moving out for the winter.
5. These foxes’ food sources must be running low.

“Foxes’” refers to multiple “foxes” owning an object or group of objects at the same time. We often write the object in the plural form itself when we want to show that a group is owned rather than just one entity.

Quiz: Have You Mastered Foxes or Fox’s or Fox’?

It might help you to see a quiz at this point in the article. You can put all your new knowledge to the test to see how well you’ve picked up on all the rules to do with “fox’s” and “foxes’.” The answers will be at the end.

1. My (A. foxes / B. fox’s / C. foxes’) coat is glistening against the winter sun.
2. The (A. foxes / B. fox’s / C. foxes’) are somewhere local because they keep spooking my chickens!
3. Don’t let the (A. foxes / B. fox’s / C. foxes’) senses of smell pick up on my rabbit hutches!
4. We haven’t got enough (A. foxes / B. fox’s / C. foxes’) in here.
5. The (A. foxes / B. fox’s / C. foxes’) families are all struggling to survive right now.

Quiz answers

1. B
2. A
3. C
4. A
5. C

Final Thoughts

“Fox’s” is the correct singular possessive form of “fox.” “Foxes’” is the correct plural possessive form of “fox.” We can use both to talk about “foxes” owning objects in sentences, and it depends on the context whether we want the singular or plural in all cases.

You may also like: Species’s or Species’? (Correct Possessive Explained)