Sound Right

/ɔ/ — the LAW vowel as in law, call, thought

Main spellings (~70%)

⟨a⟩ ~30%

Regular before ⟨l⟩ and ⟨ll⟩.

all call wall fall talk walk water

⟨aw⟩ ~10%

law saw draw raw dawn

⟨au⟩ ~10%

autumn launch laundry because fault

⟨o⟩ ~20%

dog long song off cross lost

Unusual spellings (~30%)

⟨ough⟩

thought brought bought fought
Two ways to see this: You can think of ⟨ough⟩ as an unusual spelling of /ɔ/, or as a silent ⟨gh⟩ after ⟨ou⟩ — see the silent GH page for the full list. Both are valid.

⟨augh⟩

caught daughter taught
Two ways to see this: You can think of ⟨augh⟩ as an unusual spelling of /ɔ/, or as a silent ⟨gh⟩ after ⟨au⟩ — see the silent GH page. Both are valid.

⟨oa⟩

broad abroad

/ɔ/ vs /ɑ/

Cot-caught merger: Many Americans pronounce /ɔ/ and /ɑ/ the same way. If "cot" and "caught" sound identical to you, that's normal! See the FATHER vowel for /ɑ/.