Vowels: long o sound /oʊ/

Listen to the long o sound

How to pronounce the long o sound

The long o is a two-sound vowel that ends in a brief w sound.

Part 1: The body of the tongue is pushed back and in a low-to-mid mouth position and the bottom teeth can be felt along the sides of the tongue.

Part 2: The sound moves into a w sound by raising the jaw slightly while closing the lips into a small circle. The body of the tongue moves upward until the tongue is near the back of the hard palate.

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Common long o spellings

spelling	example		other pronunciations for spelling
o_e (VCe)[1]	joke rope vote		none
oa[1]	boat soap toast		none
ow	snow own known		ow sound (cow)
o (CVC)[1]	most go both		short o (box) aw sound (dog)

[1] o_e, oa, and o spellings with the letter r
When the common long o spellings are followed by the letter r or the consonant of the o_e spelling is the letter r (as in the words for, soar and more), the sound is more likely to be pronounced as the or sound instead of the long o sound followed by the r sound. If the or spelling occurs on an unstressed syllable (as in the words honor and factor), a schwa+r pronunciation is also possible.

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The long o sound in suffixes

none

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Non-phonetic long o words
The long o sound is underlined in the following words:
though goes

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Pronuncian Lessons

  

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Letter x Pronunciation: k+s or g+z

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