What types of atoms form covalent bonds?

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Covalent bonds form when atoms share electron pairs to fill their outer shells. This sharing is most favorable between nonmetals, which have similar electronegativities and a desire to complete their valence shells by adding electrons rather than losing them. That shared-electron approach produces stable molecules such as H2, O2, or CH4, where the atoms stay bonded through shared electron pairs.

Metals, on the other hand, tend to lose electrons and form ionic bonds with nonmetals or engage in metallic bonding with other metals. Noble gases already have full valence shells, so they are largely inert and do not readily form covalent bonds under normal conditions. Metalloids can participate in covalent bonding as well, but the classic and most representative covalent interactions occur between nonmetals.

So, nonmetals are the types of atoms that form covalent bonds.