American English sound
/oʊ/: how to pronounce the long “o” in go, boat and home
/oʊ/ is the vowel in go, boat and home. Like /eɪ/, it's a diphthong: the lips start rounded at /o/ and close further toward /ʊ/ as the tongue rises.
Learners whose language has a pure, steady “o” often clip it, and a clipped /oʊ/ can sound like the vowel of caught or cut.
/oʊ/
the long “o”
How to make the sound
- 1Round your lips into a medium circle.
- 2Start with the back of your tongue mid-high, as if beginning to say “awe” but higher.
- 3Glide: close your lips a little more and raise the back of your tongue toward the “oo” of “book”.
- 4Make the glide clear at the end of words: go, show, know.
- Tongue
- mid-back
- Lips
- rounded
- Voice
- voiced
Hear it in words
Tap a word to hear it.
At the start
In the middle
At the end
How it's spelled
- o + consonant + e: home, phone, note
- oa: boat, road, coat
- ow: show, know, slow
- o: go, so, open
- oe / ough: toe, though
Common mistakes
No glide: a pure “o”
A steady vowel makes go and know sound clipped. Close the lips a little as the sound ends.
Too open, like “caught”
Opening the jaw turns coat into caught and note into not. Keep the lips rounded and the jaw fairly closed.
Unrounded, like “cut”
Without lip rounding, home starts to sound like hum. Round the lips from the start.
Minimal pairs
Each pair differs by one sound. If both words sound the same when you say them, practice this pair.
Try it
“Joe goes home alone on the slow road.”
Record a sentence and get a score for every sound, /oʊ/ included. Free, no account.
Questions
How is the American /oʊ/ different from the British one?
The British vowel in go starts in the middle of the mouth (/əʊ/), with little rounding. The American /oʊ/ starts further back with the lips already rounded.
Why do “know” and “now” look alike but sound different?
The letters ow spell two sounds: /oʊ/ in know, show and slow, and /aʊ/ in now, how and cow. You have to learn which is which by ear.