Past Tense of "Seek": "Sought" or "Seeked"?

"Sought" is the only correct past tense of "seek," which means to try to find or obtain something by searching or making an effort.

"Seeked" is an incorrect word that does not exist in the English dictionary. Although "seeked" may seem like a logical form of "seek," the only correct past tense of "seek" is "sought."

The object that is being "sought" can either be tangible items like treasures, physical evidence in a crime scene, and shelter, or intangible things like advice, solace, solutions, and opportunities.

"Sought" in context

Imagine you are a student studying for a major exam. You have been struggling with a particular topic and need additional help. In this context, you might seek assistance or guidance from your teacher. Your conversation with the teacher could go like this:

Student: "I've been having trouble understanding this topic, and I need some extra help."

Teacher: "I'm glad you sought help. Let's go over the material together and address your questions."

In this situation, "sought" is used to indicate that the student actively looked for or requested assistance from the teacher to improve their understanding of the topic.

Other similar past-tense verbs

For many verbs in the English language, you can simply add on an "-ed" to the end of the verb to get the past-tense form of the word, such as "walk" ("walked"), "clean" ("cleaned"), and "help" ("helped"). Hence, one may mistakenly think that the past-tense form of "seek" is the incorrect "seeked."

However, "seek" becomes the very distinct "sought" when transforming into a past-tense verb. Other verbs that also go from their present-tense form to a past-tense form ending in "-ught" include the following:

bring → brought
buy → bought
catch → caught
fight → fought
think → thought

Unfortunately, there is no clear pattern or rule regarding which verbs will change drastically like the above verbs versus which verbs will simply get an "-ed" at the end when turning into their past-tense forms. Like many other aspects of English, this requires simply memorizing which verbs can become past tense with "-ed" and which cannot.

The use of the correct "sought" versus the incorrect "seeked"

As shown in the Google Books Ngram Viewer above, the correct past-tense verb "sought" has been used throughout the centuries, while the incorrect "seeked" has seen little to no use.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the earliest known use of the Germanic verb "seek" is from the Old English period, which is pre-1150. "Sought" can also be used as an adjective or noun, but because those uses of the word are rare, so only the past-tense verb form will be discussed.

Example sentences

She sought advice from experienced professionals before making a career decision.
The explorers sought hidden treasure in the depths of the jungle.
He sought solace in the quiet of the library when he needed to clear his mind.
The police sought witnesses to the accident to gather more information.
The company sought innovative solutions to improve its products.
During the drought, farmers sought ways to conserve water resources.
Many job seekers have sought employment opportunities in the city.
The detective sought clues to solve the mysterious disappearance.
In her travels, she sought to understand different cultures and traditions.
The hikers sought shelter when a sudden storm rolled in.

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