Wrote is the past tense of the verb “to write.” When you write something today, you wrote it yesterday. If your friend writes you a letter now, she wrote that letter once she finished and sent it.

The word covers any form of writing: putting words on paper with a pen, typing on a computer, or even carving letters into stone. Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence in 1776. Your teacher wrote comments on your essay. You wrote your name at the top of your homework.

Wrote can also mean composed or created: Mozart wrote symphonies, meaning he created and composed them. A screenwriter wrote the dialogue for a movie. When someone says they wrote a song, they created both the melody and lyrics, or sometimes just one of those parts.

The past participle form is “written” (used with helping verbs like “has” or “have”): “I wrote that story last week” versus “I have written three stories this month.”