1st Year Oral Communication II
How do you pronounce –ough
Put the following words in the correct column, according to the pronunciation of –ough
cough though
tough trough
bough nought
6 words /ɔː/ 3 words /ʌf/
Here are fourteen further words that rhyme with the different pronunciation of -ough. Put them
in the correct boxes in the column below. There are two per column.
caught toffee
snuff frown
/ɔː/ /ʌf/
Hints on pronunciation
for foreigners
I take it you already know
of tough and bough and
cough and dough. Others
may stumble, but not you,
On hiccough, thorough,
lough and through. Well
done! And now you wish,
perhaps,
To learn of less familiar
traps. Beware of heard, a
dreadful word
That looks like beard and
sounds like bird. And
dead-it's said like bed, not
bead. For goodness
sake, don't call it deed!
Watch out for meat and
great and threat. They
rhyme with suite and
straight and debt!
Vowel sounds
/ʌ/tough
/aʊ/bough
/ɒ/cough
/əʊ/_____________
/ə/______________
/ɑː/______________
through ought fought
enough sought drought
plough rough bought
2 words /ɒf/ 1 word /uː/ 2 words /ə/
terror cuff groan
glow warn off
/ɒf/ /uː/
A moth is not a moth in
mother, Nor both in
bother, broth in brother,
And here is not a match
for there, Nor dear and
fear for pear and bear.
And then there's dose and
rose and lose. Just look
them up--and goose and
choose. And cork and
work and card and ward.
And font and front and
word and sword. And do
and go, then thwart and
cart. Come, come I've
hardly made a start. A
dreadful language? Man
alive, I'd mastered it when
I was five!
I will teach you in my
verse. Words like corpse,
corps, horse, and worse.
For this phonetics
/uː/______________
/ɜː/_______________
/ɪə/_______________
/e/________________
/iː/________________
/ei/_______________
thorough dough
thought
borough
2 words /əʊ/ 3 words /aʊ/
doubt burglar
stew queue
/ə/ /əʊ/ /aʊ/
labyrinth. Gives monkey,
donkey ninth and plinth;
Rounded, wounded,
grieve and sieve,
Friend and fiend, alive
and live. Query does not
rhyme with very, Nor does
fury sound like bury. Dies
and diet, lord and word,
Earth and hearth and
clerk and herd. Evil, devil,
tomb, bomb, comb. Doll
and roll, dull, bull, some
and home.
Finally, which rhymes
with enough – Though,
through, plough, or dough,
or cough? Hiccough has
the sound of cup. My
advice is to give up!!!
/eə/_______________
/ɔː/________________
/ai/________________
/ɪ/_____________
/ʊ/_____________