Let's talk about diphthongs! Just like sh, th, and ch, there are also vowels that work together to make new sounds, too. Ou and ow both make the same "ow" sound in words, but the different spellings make them tricky to remember! Follow these teaching tips and hands-on activities to teach ow and ou sound words more easily, and help your students become better readers and writers at the same time.
Once your students have a solid understanding of long and short vowel sounds, it's time to move into the more complex sounds. One sound that they've probably stumbled across is ow/ou. It sounds like "ow," as in cloud, trout, and owl.
This sound is in many common words, but many students struggle to spell them. Fortunately, there are some simple rules for teaching these common spellings; they just require clear instruction and ample opportunities to practise using evidence-based practices. I've got solutions for all of that below!
What are diphthongs?
In English, most vowel sounds are pronounced with the mouth in one position and with one pure sound.
Diphthong is derived from the Greek word diphthongos, which means "having two sounds." Diphthongs are therefore sounds that are made up of two separate vowel sounds. The mouth makes two different formations when pronouncing the sound.
There are 4 main diphthongs that we teach primary students:
- oy
- oi
- ou
- ow
Sometimes you'll see these lumped in with vowel teams, but they're slightly different. Vowel teams include any two vowels that work together to make a specific vowel sound, but they generally do not create a new sound. Instead, they work together to make a long or short vowel sound. Think ee, ea, ai, oe, ey and more. In general, you just hear one of those sounds.
Diphthongs are vowel digraphs, but they are composed of two vowels that make a new vowel sound. These are specific sounds which are separate from the standard short and long vowel sounds. This can make diphthongs extra confusing for students, which is why it's so important to teach them explicitly!
I created these ow/ou slideshows to help you do just that.
With over 450 slides, they'll help you guide your class through what phonemes and graphemes are, then move on to several layers of practice and simple games to teach and reinforce ow and ou words. It's the perfect way to start your instructional sequence!
When to use ou vs ow?
This is the part that gets really tricky for students! Since ou and ow sound the same, it can be hard to know which one to use where. Fortunately, my free spelling pattern posters map out the differences as clearly as possible.
The spelling ou is usually used at the beginning or in the middle of words or syllables. Examples: shout, cloud, house
The word 'south' is pictured here using The Hive's flash card app.
The ow spelling is usually used at the end of words or syllables or when followed by the consonant sounds 'n' or 'l.' Examples: cow, crown, owl. Note: English words do not end with a u.
A nonsense word 'splow' is pictured here using The Hive's nonsense decodable words app.
These rules can be really helpful to students. If they can tell that the sound is at the end of a word or syllable, or followed by 'n' or 'l,' they can use ow.
Of course, the English language can still have exceptions, and this is why it's so important to practise this skill repeatedly using evidence-based instructional practices like sound mapping instead of relying on memorisation.
Download these free cheatsheets to keep on reference when teaching ou and ow spelling patterns to your students.
OU Words List
The following words all have the ou spelling pattern. This is just the start, though! These printable word lists include all the diphthong phonemes, including oi, oy, ow, and ou. All of the words are sorted by the number of phonemes, which makes these lists especially helpful for scaffolding with sound boxes.
Many of the 2-4 sound words are one-syllable words, and you'll generally find multi-syllable words in the 5+ sounds section (although not always)!
2 sounds
- ouch
- out
- thou
3 sounds
- bout
- couch
- douse
- foul
- gouge
- gout
- house
- loud
- mouth
- mouse
- noun
- pouch
- shout
- south
4 sounds
- about
- blouse
- bounce
- bound
- cloud
- count
- crouch
- flour
- found
- grout
- hound
- mound
- pound
- proud
- round
- scout
- trout
5+ sounds
- announce
- around
- astound
- bounty
- fountain
- ground
- lounge
- mountain
- outdoor
- outside
- scoundrel
- shroud
- sprout
- without
OW Words List
You'll notice that many of the words on this list are extremely familiar words, including some of the first words students learn to read. The nice thing about these common words is that you can hear the /w/ at the end of cow and how. Because of this, students usually catch onto this spelling pattern quickly.
2 sounds
- bow
- cow
- how
- now
- owl
- row
- vow
- wow
3 sounds
- brow
- down
- fowl
- gown
- howl
- power
- tower
- town
4 sounds
- allow
- brown
- browse
- clown
- crowd
- drown
- flower
- frown
- growl
- powder
- scowl
- towel
5+ sounds
- bowing
- brownie
- browser
- cauliflower
- chowder
- cowboy
- crowded
- downpour
- downtown
- drowning
- drowsy
- growling
- however
- vowels
Ow & Ou Words Online Activities
Looking for a fun way to practise these ou and ow sounds? You're in the right place! I've created a wide variety of instructional tools, games, and worksheets to help students practise these essential phonics skills - keep scrolling to see some examples below.
They are all included in The Hive, our revolutionary digital teacher platform. Not only does The Hive include a comprehensive resource library but it is also your digital teaching partner with digital learning tools, videos, classroom management tools, a digital teacher planner and so much more.
Get a free 14 day trial of The Hive today to check it out for yourself!
The Hive's digital learning tools provide you with loads of ways to consolidate phonics knowledge of ou sound words. Here are a few of the phonics apps that you'll find in The Hive.
Word Builder
Decodable Words
Decodable Sentences
Decodable Images
Spinner Picker
Tic Tac Toe
Plus the Decodable Nonsense Words and Flash Cards (see above).
Set up your free 14 day trial of The Hive today!
Ow & Ou Words Activities
Ow Ou Word Sorts
In this word sort, students separate words based on whether they have ow or ou.
To make it even more challenging, use the image cards without the words. Students won't be able to look for the spelling pattern in the word; they'll need to simply know the spelling patterns.
Firefighter Phonics
In this matching game, students practise blending and segmenting ou and ow words and place a water droplet on top of the corresponding fire to "put it out." Kids love getting to put the fire out, and it's much more engaging than a standard worksheet!
Diphthong Word Mapping Templates
These word mapping templates pair perfectly with the free word lists above because you can practise teaching words with 3 sounds, 4 sounds, and 5 sounds. The different layers of practice (spin it, tap it, map it, spell it) give your students several chances to break apart the sounds in new words, which helps them remember the spelling more efficiently.
These spelling games practise the same skills and are a great next step after you finish the resource above!
Word Building Cards
For these task cards, students look at an image and must find the word with the ou or ow sound. Then, they must write the word using the correct spelling. This is a great way to practise those ow/ou rules to figure out when to use each one!
Roll and Write
On these activity mats, students roll a dice, then practise writing a word with the letters ou or ow up to 6 times each. It gets that necessary repetition that students need, but in a more hands-on way.
Ow Ou Clip Cards
Which spelling is right: the word with the ou or the one with the ow? Clip the right spelling to match each picture. I love using this ou clip card activity for literacy centers!
Grapheme Detectives
With these printable worksheets, students take it turns to quiz a partner or group member with one of the word cards. Students must either write the word in the correct column, OR write both spellings and circle the correct spelling.
Diphthong Assessment
Once you're ready, these diphthong assessments make it easy to see where your students are in the learning process. They're open-ended, too, so students can't just circle an answer and hope they got it right. You'll really get to see exactly what they know. There are a few different templates to choose from.
Phonics Check In
For a more structured phonics assessment, you might like to use these diphthong phonics check ins. Students must read and circle the correct decodable word, write the missing sound, read and draw the decodable word, and write the decodable word.
There are even more diphthong activities available on The Hive, including plenty more resources for teaching and reinforcing oi/oy too.
Plus, you'll love our revolutionary Word Builder Tool!
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