Pronunciation exercises: /ɒrV/ vs /ɔːrV/

This page sets out some common words teachers can use to help their students become more aware of how they can improve their pronunciation of the sequences /ɒr/ and /ɔːr/ when they are followed by a vowel.

In General American /ɒr/ sounds /ɑːr/ in only 5 words (labeled with *) and it sounds /ɔːr/ or /ər/ in the rest. In this page we are not concerned with /ər/.

In regional Atlantic American English /ɒr/ sounds /ɑːr/, as in orange pronounced /ˈɑːrɪndʒ/.

Common words

 * /ɒr/:
 * as "or": foreign - forest - historical - majority - moral - orange - origin - priority
 * as "orr": borrow* - correspond - sorry* - tomorrow*


 * /ɔːr/:
 * as "or": boring - explorer - moreover - story


 * /ɔːr/ or /ər/: category

Less common words

 * /ɒr/:
 * as "or": coral - historic - laboratory /ləˈbɒrətriː, ˈlæbrətɔːriː/ - minority - seniority
 * as "orr": abhorrent - horrible - morrow* (shortening of "tomorrow") - sorrow*
 * as "arr": quarrel - warrant - warranty - warrior
 * as "ar": quarantine


 * /ɔːr/:
 * as "or": chlorine - choral - chorus - glory - historian - laboratory /ləˈbɒrətriː, ˈlæbrətɔːri/ - memorial - notorious - storage
 * as "aur": laurel - thesaurus
 * as "orr": abhorring


 * /ɔːr/ or /ə/:
 * as "or": mandatory - territory /ˈtrɪtəriː, ˈtrɪtriː, ˈtrətɔːriː/

Proper nouns

 * /ɒ/: Dorothy - Florence - Forida - Oregon
 * /ɔː/: Dora

Spelling rule
The sequence "orr" is pronounced /ɔː/ in Received Pronunciation only in verbs ending in "or". There is only one such a verb that appears in normal dictionaries:
 * from abhor: abhorred, abhorring

Note that "abhorrent" /əbˈhɒrənt/ is an adjective, not a verb.

Variant pronunciations /ɒr/ vs /ɔːr/
In addition to the distinctions by dialect there are some specific words.
 * oral: most dictionaries have /ɔːr/ but Collins Dictionary gives the additional variant /ɒr/ for British English.

Difference between "oral" and "aural"
In a few regions of the United States "horse" and "hoarse" are pronounced differently /hɔːrs, hoərs/. These accents are said to have "horse" and "hoarse" unmerged.