Pronunciation of "o"

Like some other vowel letters described before, "o" can be pronounced in several ways, sometimes depending on whether the word contains a double consonant letter, a silent or 'magic' "-e" or if the "o" is in an unstressed syllable.

Ex. 1 Put the following words into categories depending on the pronunciation of the letter "o", sometimes including adjacent letters.

Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (a film), one, lot, tore, come, sore, spot, some, shore, cot, more, none, job, done, core, tore, jot, dozen, shot, doll, dock, mock, frock, owl, role, consider, cowl, roll, contain, dole, contract (noun), contract (verb), How now, brown cow?, hole, other, lose, joke, coke, broke, rose, another, pose, women, propose

1. /ɒ/ 2. /ʌ/ 3. /ɔː/ 4. /əʊ/ 5. /aʊ/ 6. /ə/ 7. /uː/ 8. /ɪ/

Ex. 2 Are these pairs of words pronounced the same?

a. none - nun   sore - soar   bored - board   come - comb

b. ore - oar   lot - loot   sod - soared   loft - laughed


Key
Ex. 1
1. /ɒ/ lock, stock, lot, spot, cot, job, jot, shot, doll, dock, mock, frock, contract (n)
2. /ʌ/ one /wʌn/, come, some, none, done, dozen, other, another
3. /ɔː/ tore, sore, shore, more, core, tore
4. /əʊ/ smoking, role, roll, dole, hole, joke, coke, broke, rose, pose, propose
5. /aʊ/ owl, cowl, how, now, brown, cow
6. /ə/ consider, contain, contract (v)
7. /uː/ lose, two
8. /ɪ/ women

Ex. 2 a. yes, yes, yes, no   b. yes, no, no, no