/ʌ/ — the BUTTER vowel as in but, cup, love

Main spellings (~90%)

⟨u⟩ ~63%

The most common spelling.

⟨o⟩ ~27%

Regular before /v/, /ð/, and /θ/.

Pattern: ⟨o⟩ is regular for this sound before ⟨v⟩ (love, glove, above, dove, shove, oven, cover) and ⟨th⟩ (mother, other, brother, nothing).

Unusual spellings (~10%)

⟨ou⟩

About 25 words.

⟨oo⟩

Only two words.

⟨oe⟩