| English Online
with Speakmethod |
|
|
Spelling and
Pronunciation: OU
The spelling "ou" can have several sounds. As you can see from the list below, there is one sound that is used the most: the double vowel. This is the sound of the Short A (as in "cat") followed by the Long O (as in "no"). And yet, there are 5 other pronunciations. Though there are a few spelling and pronunciation patterns, they are not free from exceptions. The best way to learn these words is to memorize them. |
|
|
| Pronunciation
|
Examples |
Note |
| double
vowel, as in "ouch" |
amount,
count, counter, county, doubt, drought, foul, flour, found, fountain,
ground, hour, house, mountain, mouth, noun, our, out, pound, pout,
round, route*, shout, sound, sour, south, thousand |
most
common pronunciation |
| relaxed
U, as in "good" |
could,
would, should |
used
with the conditional words |
| short
U |
rough,
tough, enough, country, young |
used
with some common words |
| short
O |
bought,
fought, sought, cough |
usually
spelled with "ough" and final T |
| Long
O |
though,
dough, thorough, four, pour, tour, soul |
"thorough"
sounds like "thurō" |
| Long
U |
through,
route* |
"route"
has 2 pronunciations--people use both |
Continue Learning 500 Words: Short Vowels 500 Words: Long Vowels All Vowels Learn by Language |
|
Continue Learning Sounds of the Letter A Sounds of the Letter I Sounds of the Letter O 500 Common Words |