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OW (cow) Sound Word List

By Rodney Everson

The /ow/ sound is one of four sounds you can think of as beginning with the letter “o”. The four sounds are /ow/ (cow), /oy/ (toy), /oo/ (zoo), and /oul/ (would).

Of the 7,000 words in the database constructed from a popular children’s dictionary, 78 of them are one-syllable words in which the vowel sound is /ow/. The three spellings of the /ow/ sound are "ow", "ou", and "ough". Children should be taught that the /ow/ sound is the first one they should try when encountering any one of those three spellings, so this list is a good one to draw from when looking for easy words to include in a short story.

The most common spellings are "ow" and "ou" in one-syllable words. The "ough" spelling is found in only two one-syllable words in the database. The "ou" spelling is not found at the end of words, so if the word ends in the /ow/ sound it generally has the "ow" spelling (the exception being the word bough).

Otr wordlists cover digital

Comprehensive Word Lists

Features over 100 word lists built from 7,000 words input from a children's dictionary. Lists are organized by vowel and consonant sounds and cover most common spellings. Useful in the classroom for building curriculum aids such as short stories that emphasize specific sounds and spellings. Multisyllable words are also included, chunked according to the method taught in the OnTrack Reading Advanced Code Phonics Workbook.