The short o sounds can be made in many different ways in the English language. Short o is most commonly found with the letter o and letter teams au and aw. However, there are several other options for making the short o sound as well. Here is some information regarding what a short o word is, the different ways to spell the short o sound, and a list of short o words to help understand this vowel sound. Be prepared, as some of them look a little funny.
Short O Word
What is a Short O Word?
A short o word is a word that makes a sound like “ahh” or “aw”. The vowel sound is considered short when it makes a sound that does not sound like the vowel’s name, “oh”. This sound is not always made by using the letter o and can be tricky to spot. As you’ll see below, there are some letter teams that might seem like they don’t belong, but are definitely part of the short o word family.
How to Spell Short O Words
Here are seven commonly used sound patterns used to make the short o sound, along with an example of a word using the sound pattern:
- o – got
- aw – law
- o – honor (silent ‘h’)
- au – auto
- a – all
- ough – thought
- augh – caught
As you can see, there are several very surprising ways in which to make a short o word using several different letter teams. It is helpful to know that most short o words are made with the letter o. The ‘au’ and ‘aw’ are also very popular letter teams that are used to make the short o sound. It is always fun and necessary to know and identify the other ways to write a short o word in order to read, write, and speak these words correctly.
List of Short O Words
The short o sound has many options in how it is spelled. Pay close attention to how your mouth makes the short o sound when saying some of these words that aren’t so obvious.
o
- bob
- cob
- log
- mob
- rob
- sob
- cod
- nod
- odd
- pod
- rod
- sod
- bog
- cog
- dog
- fog
- hog
- jog
- mom
- bop
- cop
- hop
- lop
- mop
- pop
- top
- cot
- dot
- got
- hot
- jot
- lot
- not
- pot
- rot
- tot
- dock
- lock
- rock
- sock
- boss
- loss
- moss
- toss
- frog
- blog
- slob
aw
- awe
- awesome
- awful
- bawl
- brawl
- crawfish
- dawn
- fawn
- flaw
- hawk
- lawn
- yawn
- raw
- saw
- sawdust
- scrawl
- scrawny
- jaw
- law
- paw
- pawn
- caw
- claw
- draw
- slaw
- spawn
- sprawl
- squawk
- gnaw
- thaw
- straw
- jigsaw
- outlaw
- seesaw
- withdraw
ho
- honor
- honorable
- honest
au
- audio
- audit
- auburn
- August
- author
- autumn
- applaud
- auction
- applause
- astronaut
- audience
- audition
- automatic
- automobile
- because
- cause
- clause
- caution
- exhaust
- fraud
- faucet
- gauze
- haul
- haunt
- launch
- laundry
- jaunt
- pause
- sauce
- sauna
- saucer
- trauma
a
- all
- call
- hall
- mall
- fall
- ball
- gall
- wall
- tall
- small
- stall
- recall
- squall
- appall
- befall
- overall
- pitfall
- icefall
- install
- oddball
- seawall
- drywall
- eyeball
- pinball
- gumball
- football
- landfall
- handball
- firewall
- meatball
- birdcall
- stonewall
- screwball
- whitewall
- curveball
- waterfall
- dodgeball
- basketball
ough
- cough
- ought
- fought
- trough
- thought
- brought
- wrought
augh
- caught
- naught
- naughty
- daughter
- onslaught