Decoding and spelling exercises: /əʊ/ vs /aʊ/

The spelling of /əʊ/ and /aʊ/ is sometimes the same (as in "ow"). Moreover, "ou" in Spanish sounds [ou] (like /əʊ/ in an American accent) rather than [au]. For these reasons some students confuse these two sounds, even if they are able to pronounce them. For example, the word "tower" may be pronounced as (or [ˈtowər]) instead of

"ou"

 * /əʊ/: although - boulder - dough - shoulder - soul - though

"ow"

 * /əʊ/:

Minimal pairs
/aʊ/ vs. /əʊ/: clown - clone; couch - coach; drown - drone; loud - load; noun - known; now - know/no; town - tone

Homophones

 * /aʊ/: council - counsel; flour - flower; foul - fowl;
 * /əʊ/: grown - groan; know - no; sow - so - sew; soul - sole; tow - toe;

Heteronyms
Main article: Heteronym
 * bow: /baʊ/ inclination - /bəʊ/ weapon; row /raʊ/ quarrel - /rəʊ/ line;