Ough Words

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Updated On Dec 10, 2021

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Ough is a letter sequence often seen in words in the English language. This sequence of letters have the most unpredictable pronunciation, at least six pronunciations in North American English and over ten in British English.

Uses:

This sequence can also be used as a word to express emotion in different ways and forms.
It is pronounced as oh, but adding the ‘ug’ between ‘the o’ and h creates a more meaningful passion when expressing it.
The word can be used to replace long vowel ‘o’ sounds in a word, providing more emphasis to make the long vowel sound more rewarding, interesting and less boring to use.
It can be used in expressing anger, for example “ ough,stop that please, ough!”
It can be used in expressing joy and happiness, by just simply yelling at the top of your lungs when in the middle of a match or blockbuster “OUGH!”

Word List:

It’s fascinating how each of these words is pronounced differently even though they all have ‘ough’ in them. Click on the audio to know how it is pronounced.

Word	Pronunciation	Example
DOUGH	IELTS Material · Dough	I prepared the dough for pizza.
COUGH	IELTS Material · Cough	The baby had a severe cough and cold.
ROUGH	IELTS Material · Rough	The cloth had a rough appearance but was comfortable to wear.
PLOUGH	IELTS Material · Plough	Ravi helped his father plough his fields
TOUGH	IELTS Material · Tough	Rachel had a tough time with her job and nephew around.
BOUGH	IELTS Material · Bough	The parrot sat on the bough.
THOUGH	IELTS Material · Though	He somehow ate the food even though he wasn’t hungry.
ALTHOUGH	IELTS Material · Although	Although we had a fight, we decided to move on with the plan to meet up.
THROUGH	IELTS Material · Through	The pain she went through was terrible.
AFTERTHOUGHT	IELTS Material · Afterthought	The afterthought of spending the night with the most annoying cousin of mine gave me goosebumps.
BOUGHT	IELTS Material · Bought	I bought a pair of shoes from the big billion sale.
THOUGHT	IELTS Material · Thought	I thought we would have a whole month off work.
THOUGHTFULNESS	IELTS Material · Thoughtfulness	Her thoughtfulness for older people and readiness to help them, made me fall for her.
BREAKTHROUGH	IELTS Material · Breakthrough	Researchers claim that they have made a major breakthrough in cancer treatment.
ENOUGH	IELTS Material · Enough	There are enough seats left for students applying for Masters in our college.
DOUGHNUT	IELTS Material · Doughnut	I would replace anything for doughnuts.
DROUGHT	IELTS Material · Drought	The state is exposed to drought, due to reduced rainfall.
OUGHT	IELTS Material · Ought	For the woman your age, you ought to have savings.

With ough, you can never be sure of pronunciation as it is always unpredictable. If you are dealing with any issues regarding ough words, our holistic free IELTS online coaching can help you out.

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