Decoding the letter O

The letter O (lowercase o, pronounced as most vowel letters in English, had initially four main pronunciations; however in Received Pronunciation and in General American they are currently three.


 * So-called “short o”, IPA phoneme /ɒ/, as in lot, hop, hopping, cloth, long or torrid
 * Short o spelling, IPA phoneme /ɔː/, as in cloth, or long


 * So-called “long o”, IPA phoneme /əʊ/, as in go, hope, hoping or most
 * Long "or" monophtong (short vowel spelling), IPA phoneme /ɔː/, as in north, horse, born or torrid.
 * Long vowel "or" spelling, currently also /ɔː/, but it used to be /oə/ as in force, core or glory.

It also can be pronounced /ʌ/ as in love plus other, less common pronunciations, sometimes in combination with other letters, and, of course, it can be used as schwa. There are some helpful rules (to be taken with the habitual pinch of salt).

Distinctions by dialect
Teaching the letter O is one of those cases in which teachers, whichever their preferences might be, need to point out the differences between Received Pronunciation and General American. The best known of these differences is that RP /ɒ/ is normally GA /ɑː/. Also RP in some cases is GA  as in cloth and long. Also, many North Americans pronounce /ɔː/ as /ɑː/; see also Cot-caught merger.

As /ɒ/
See main article IPA phoneme /ɒ/. ''See also So-called “short o” and Decoding exercises: "orV" and "orrV"


 * before final consonants: bomb - bond - box - drop - hot - job - lot - not - on - shop - stop - top - upon
 * across - along - cloth - cost - dog - long - lost - off


 * before double consonant or "ck": block - clock - coffee - follow - occupy - offer - possible - shock
 * before one consonant: body - gone - holiday - model - poverty - probably - product
 * before two different consonants: compact (adj., n.) - often - problem

As /əʊ/
See main article IPA phoneme /əʊ/.


 * with magic e: alone - bone - phone - stone - whole - zone
 * with final e: noble
 * mid position: global - local - mobile - motivate - notable - slogan - soldier
 * ending in consonants: bold - both - don't - fold - folk /fəʊk/ - ghost - gold - gross - hold - host - most - old - post - roll - poll - won't
 * ending in "o": ago - also - buffalo - espresso - go - judo - no - potato - radio - so - taco - tomato - tuxedo - video

As /ɔː/
''See also Decoding exercises: "orV" and "orrV"


 * afford - born - force - form - horse - important - north - order - report - short - sort - store - storm - support - sword
 * AmE: across - along - chocolate - cloth - cost - dog - gone - long - lost - off - offer - often

As /ʌ/
See main article IPA phoneme /ʌ/.

As /ɜː/

 * attorney - word - work - world - worm - worse - worst - worth

As /uː/

 * do - lose - move - tomb - two - who - whose - womb

As /ʊ/

 * bosom - woman - wolf

As /ɪ/

 * women

As schwa
See main article schwa.


 * weak forms: for - from - of - some - to
 * at beginning (including many verbs): object (verb) - observe - occasion - occur - official - oppose
 * as part of suffix -tion: nation - motion
 * as part of suffix -sion: version - vision
 * other: antonym - broccoli - compact (verb) - director - ecology - forbid - gorilla

As "oa"
See main article Decoding exercises: "oa"
 * as /ɔː/: abroad, boar, board, broad, oar, roar, soar
 * as /əʊ/:

As "oe"
See main article: Decoding exercises: "oe"
 * /əʊ/: Joe - mistletoe - oboe - toe
 * plurals: does (noun) - mosquitoes - potatoes


 * /ʌ/: does (verb)
 * /uː/: canoe - shoe
 * /əʊə/: poem - poet - poetry

As "oi"
See main article: IPA phoneme /ɔɪ/
 * /ɔɪ/: choice - oil

As "oo"

 * See main article: Decoding exercises: "oo"


 * /uː/: boot - choose - cool - fool - loose - moon - pool - root - school - soon - stool - tool
 * /ʊ/: book - cook - foot - good - hook - look - shook - took - wool - whoops!
 * /ʌ/: blood - flood

As "ou"
See main article Decoding exercises: "ou"
 * /aʊ/: about - cloud - house - mountain - mouth - out - round
 * /aʊə/: flour - hour - our - sour
 * /ʌ/: country - cousin - touch - trouble - young
 * /ɔː/: bought - course - court - fought - source - thought
 * /əʊ/: although - dough - shoulder - soul - though
 * /uː/: group - soup - through - you - youth
 * /ʊ/: could - would - should
 * /ɜː/: journalist - journey
 * /ə/: ending in -our: colour - neighbour - vapour
 * ending in -ous: dangerous - enormous - famous - obvious - religious - serious

As "ow"
See main article: Decoding exercises: "ow"
 * /əʊ/: know - row - window
 * /aʊ/: brown - down - towel
 * /ɒ/: knowledge

As "oy"
See main article: IPA phoneme /ɔɪ/
 * /ɔɪ/: boy - destroy - employ - enjoy - Joyce - royal - toy

Silent "o"

 * colonel, jeopardy, Geoffrey, laboratory, Leonard, leopard, people
 * varisyllabic words ("o" is silent or it sounds /ə/): catholic, chocolate, corporate, comfortable /ˈkʌmfərtəbəl, ˈkʌmftəbəl, ˈkʌmftərbəl/, Deborah, favorite/favourite, history, incorporate (adj.), laboratory, temporary

Homophones

 * /əʊ/: lone - loan; no - know; poll - pole; roll - role; so - sew - sow; sole - soul;
 * /ʌ/: none - nun; one - won; some - sum; son - sun;
 * /ɔː/ all accents: bored - board; or - oar - ore; worn - warn;
 * only in some accents: shore - sure; stork - stalk

Heteronyms

 * compact (noun, verb)

Variant pronunciations

 * /ɒ, ʌ/: accomplice, accomplish
 * /ɜː, ʌ{{bre}/: thorough /ˈθɜːrəʊ, ˈθʌrə/, worry

Anticipated pronunciation difficulties depending on L1
Preconceived ideas and other interferences from L1 obviously interfere in many cases with how students perceive - and pronounce - sounds/words in English. The following sections aims to point out some of the most typical difficulties teachers and students may encounter regarding pronunciation.