Sound Right

/w/ — the W sound as in will, what, queen

The main spelling (~100%)

⟨w⟩ ~70%

The letter ⟨w⟩ is the basic spelling for /w/.

will with would want was way week well

⟨wh⟩ ~20%

The digraph ⟨wh⟩ is pronounced /w/ in most words. (In a few words like who and whole, the ⟨w⟩ is silent and only the /h/ is pronounced.)

what when where which while why white
WH words: Question words (what, when, where, which, why) all start with ⟨wh⟩. The ⟨h⟩ is silent in standard American English — what and watt sound identical.
Two ways to see this: You can think of ⟨wh⟩ as a common spelling of /w/, or as a silent ⟨h⟩ after ⟨w⟩ — see the silent H page for the full list. Both are valid.

⟨u⟩ after ⟨q⟩ ~10%

After the letter ⟨q⟩, the letter ⟨u⟩ is pronounced /w/. English never writes ⟨qw⟩ — it's always ⟨qu⟩.

queen question quick quite quiet
QU rule: The letter ⟨q⟩ is almost always followed by ⟨u⟩, and together they make /kw/. The ⟨q⟩ contributes /k/ and the ⟨u⟩ contributes /w/.

Unusual spellings (<1%)

⟨o⟩

In just two common words, ⟨o⟩ represents /w/.

one once
Old English origin: one and once come from Old English "ān" (one). The /w/ developed over time before the vowel, but the spelling stayed as ⟨o⟩. They share a root with "only" and "alone."

⟨hu⟩

In Spanish loanwords, ⟨hu⟩ before a vowel can represent /w/.

chihuahua
Spanish spelling: In Spanish, ⟨hu⟩ before a vowel sounds like /w/. The word chihuahua has this pattern twice!