English Accent -The 2 Sounds The ‘ow’ Diphthong Can Make

English Accent -The 2 sounds the ‘ow’ diphthong can make

The most common sound the ‘ow’ diphthong says is ‘ow’ as in ‘cow’.

The second most common sound it makes is ‘oe’ (as in toe).  The ‘ow’ mostly says ‘oe’ if it is at the end of a word.

In this lesson we’re going to concentrate on words that are spelled with ‘ow’, and where the ‘ow’ says ‘oe’.

Words

know, owe, bow, tow, blow, snow, bowl, flow, narrow, meadow, grow, elbow, arrow, low, glow, own, pillow, show, sow, throw, below, swallow, follow, yellow, window.

When you add a consonant to these words

If the ‘ow’ says ‘oe’ in the base word, it still says ‘oe’ in the word when you add a consonant.

For example: show- shown; owe – owed; sow – sows etc

3 words where the ‘ow’ can say ‘ow’ or ‘oe’ ( you just have to tell by context)

bow (ow)    bow (oe)

row (ow)    row  (oe)

Sow  (ow)   sow  (oe)

You may also want to learn about when the different sounds a can make here.

Best wishes, Esther