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Learn to spell while having fun. This ultimate guide of words with OU in them can be used for classroom games, flashcards, posters, poetry and journaling. Get ready to make spelling fun.
The words that include OU may contain digraphs, trigraphs and graphemes with 4 letters. Some of them are rimes that rhyme and some of the rimes don’t rhyme. Before we move on to the OU word lists, let’s explain some of these terms.
What is a grapheme
A grapheme is the letter or letters used to represent the phoneme in writing. Phoneme is the smallest sound you hear in a word. The graphemes e, ea and ai represent the same middle phoneme in red /r/-/e/-/d/, head /h/-/ea/-/d/ and said /s/-/ai/-/d/.
Phonemes that are represented by different graphemes can make learning to read or spell very difficult for some people. This is because spelling rules don’t apply to words that contain graphemes with more than one letter.
What is a digraph
A digraph is a grapheme made by two letters that represent one sound. Some are:
- ai in wait
- ay in day
- ea in meal
- ee in feet
- ei in vein
- ey in monkey
- ew in stew
- ie in field
- oa in boat
- oo in took
- ou in bought
- ow in tow
- ch in chat
- gh in ghost
- sh in ship
- ss in passion
- th in that
- wh in what
- wr in write
OU Stories
IMPROVE SPELLING AND READING.
Words with OU in them are displayed in full bloom in this exciting and entertaining book of short stories for readers to grasp the concept of words with the same rimes and the different sounds letters make with the presence of other letters. Children of all ages will see and hear the words “mouse”, “group”, “dough”, “tough” and “thought” in one book and learn that the vowel sounds in all these words do not sound the same even though they look the same.
What is a trigraph
A trigraph is a grapheme made by three letters that represent one sound. Some of these are:
- air in hair
- are in share
- ear in bear
- eir in their
- eig in reign
- dge in fudge
- ght in bought
- oar in roar
- oor in door
- igh in sigh
- ure in cure
- tch in catch
- gue in vague
What is a grapheme with 4 letters
A grapheme with 4 letters represents one sound in a word. It does not have an official name but it is referred to as a ‘quadgraph’ by many teachers. Some of these are augh, eigh, ough, ngue and heir.
- augh in caught, naught daughter
- eigh in eight, weigh, height
- ough in through, although, though
- ngue in tongue, cangue, gangue
- heir in heirdom, heirloom
What is rime
Rime is the vowel and letters that come after the onset in a syllable. Onset is the letter or blend before a vowel in a syllable. It can be one, two or three consonants.
In cat, the onset is c. In drain, the onset is dr. In through, the onset is thr. In a word with 3 syllables like catalogue, the onsets are c, t and l.
In cat, the rime is at. In drain, the rime is ain. In through, the rime is ough. In catalogue, the rimes are at, al and ogue.
What is rhyme
Rhyme is the close similarity in the final sounds of two or more words. In poems, rhyme is commonly used at the end of the lines.
Words that rhyme with cat are fat, hat, sat and mat which all have the same rime – at. However, red, head and said also rhyme but don’t have the same rime – ed, ead and aid.
OU in the word
The 9 word lists below contain words with OU in them. OU in soup, touch, shoulder and rough, is a digraph because it has one sound. OU in mouse, couch, found and about, is a diphthong because it has two sounds merging into one.
OUR in four, pour, tour and your, is a trigraph because it has one sound. OUL in could, would and should is also a trigraph. OUGH in dough, though, through and thought, is a 4-letter grapheme.
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-ou
found, mouse, our, house, proud, bounce, around, about, pound, flour, ground, out, shout, mouth, count, pout, south, doubt, cloud, bound, sour, loud, announce, mountain, louse, doused, lounge
you, soup, wound, group, cougar, coupon, youth, route, routine, bouquet, souvenir, boutique, acoustic
couple, country, courage, encourage, young, limousine
-our
four, pour, tour, mourn, courtesy, court
British English – rumour, humour, tumour, honour, labour, colour, flavour, armour, savour, vapour, neighbour, behaviour
-ous
moustache, dangerous, jealous, gorgeous, numerous, generous, famous, humongous, fabulous, joyous
pompous, nervous, wondrous, enormous, righteous, courteous, poisonous
-ious
delicious, obvious, ambitious, precious, vicious, ferocious, gracious, spacious, glorious, cautious, notorious
-ough
though, dough, although, borough, doughnut, thorough
thought, bought, brought, ought, fought, sought, wrought
tough, rough, cough, enough
through, throughout
plough
lough
-ould
could, would, should
-ouch
touch, couch, slouch, pouch, vouch, grouch, ouch
-ouble
double, trouble
-oulder
shoulder, boulder, moulder
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