Past tense of key
regular verb
The past tense of key is keyed. The past participle is also keyed.
Forms of key
| Base form (V1) | key /kiː/ |
|---|---|
| Past tense (V2) | keyed /kiːd/ |
| Past participle (V3) | keyed /kiːd/ |
| Present participle | keying |
| Third person singular | keys /kiːz/ |
Keyed in a sentence
- The volume closes with thirty pages of "Notes, critical and explanatory," in which Thomson provides seventy-six longer or shorter notes keyed to specific sections of the synopsis.2001, Bruce M. Metzger, The Bible in Translation, →ISBN, page 87
- He keyed the car that had taken his parking spot.
- She keyed off the ignition and went into the house.From the entry key off
- She was all keyed up about the interview.From the entry keyed up
- She keyed me on to the plan.From the entry key on
Meaning of key
- noun An object designed to open and close a lock or to activate or deactivate something, especially a length of metal inserted into a narrow opening on the lock to which it is matched (keyed).
- noun A card or fob that electronically signals a lock to open.
- noun A piece of information (e.g., a password or passphrase) used to encode or decode a message or messages.
Questions about the past tense of key
- What is the past tense of key?
- The past tense of key is keyed.
- What is the past participle of key?
- The past participle of key is keyed.
- Is key a regular or irregular verb?
- Key is a regular verb: its past tense adds -ed.
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: key (page history and authors) and the entries of its forms. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws left out forms marked obsolete, archaic, rare or dialectal and added the examples. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this page: “Past tense of key.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/past-tense/key. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.