Ough Words
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Ough is a letter sequence often seen in words in the English language. This sequence of letters have the most unpredictable pronunciation, at least six pronunciations in North American English and over ten in British English.
Uses:
- This sequence can also be used as a word to express emotion in different ways and forms.
- It is pronounced as oh, but adding the ‘ug’ between ‘the o’ and h creates a more meaningful passion when expressing it.
- The word can be used to replace long vowel ‘o’ sounds in a word, providing more emphasis to make the long vowel sound more rewarding, interesting and less boring to use.
- It can be used in expressing anger, for example “ ough,stop that please, ough!”
- It can be used in expressing joy and happiness, by just simply yelling at the top of your lungs when in the middle of a match or blockbuster “OUGH!”
Word List:
It’s fascinating how each of these words is pronounced differently even though they all have ‘ough’ in them. Click on the audio to know how it is pronounced.
| Word | Pronunciation | Example |
|---|---|---|
| DOUGH | I prepared the dough for pizza. | |
| COUGH | The baby had a severe cough and cold. | |
| ROUGH | The cloth had a rough appearance but was comfortable to wear. | |
| PLOUGH | Ravi helped his father plough his fields | |
| TOUGH | Rachel had a tough time with her job and nephew around. | |
| BOUGH | The parrot sat on the bough. | |
| THOUGH | He somehow ate the food even though he wasn’t hungry. | |
| ALTHOUGH | Although we had a fight, we decided to move on with the plan to meet up. | |
| THROUGH | The pain she went through was terrible. | |
| AFTERTHOUGHT | The afterthought of spending the night with the most annoying cousin of mine gave me goosebumps. | |
| BOUGHT | I bought a pair of shoes from the big billion sale. | |
| THOUGHT | I thought we would have a whole month off work. | |
| THOUGHTFULNESS | Her thoughtfulness for older people and readiness to help them, made me fall for her. | |
| BREAKTHROUGH | Researchers claim that they have made a major breakthrough in cancer treatment. | |
| ENOUGH | There are enough seats left for students applying for Masters in our college. | |
| DOUGHNUT | I would replace anything for doughnuts. | |
| DROUGHT | The state is exposed to drought, due to reduced rainfall. | |
| OUGHT | For the woman your age, you ought to have savings. |
With ough, you can never be sure of pronunciation as it is always unpredictable. If you are dealing with any issues regarding ough words, our holistic free IELTS online coaching can help you out.
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