Wiktionary:English verbs

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Tests for verb part of speech

Most English verbs are obviously verbs, but some words that might be forms of verb are spelled identically to words that are singular or plural forms of nouns (ending in ∅, -s/es}, adjectives (ending in -ing or -ed), or gerunds (nouns) (ending in -ing and able to form plurals).

To place such words in part of speech categories, whether defined traditionally or in some more modern way, Wiktionary needs some tests, preferably definitive ones.

If a candidate verb is transitive, then it can help to find uses in which it is clear that there is an object or that and "-ed" form is clearly passive, ie, accompanied by a prepositional phrase headed by by.

Otherwise it is necessary to check for use of the putative verb with manner adverbs.