Sound Right

/aʊ/ — the CLOUD vowel as in now, house, out

Main spellings (~98%)

⟨ou⟩ ~56%

The most common spelling for this sound.

about house out found round sound mouth ground count loud

⟨ow⟩ ~42%

Equally common, especially at the end of words.

now down how town brown cow allow power crowd flower
Tricky: The spelling ⟨ow⟩ can also be /oʊ/ as in know and show. Check the NO vowel page for more on that pattern.

Unusual spellings (~2%)

⟨ough⟩

A rare spelling found in just a few words.

bough plough drought
Two ways to see this: You can think of ⟨ough⟩ as an unusual spelling of /aʊ/, or as a silent ⟨gh⟩ after ⟨ou⟩ — see the silent GH page. Both are valid.

⟨au⟩

From German.

kraut

/aʊ/ vs /oʊ/

Don't confuse /aʊ/ with /oʊ/! These are different sounds that change the meaning. Compare: now vs no, found vs phone.