A short vowel with rounded lips. The jaw is dropped and the tongue is low and back. This is the British sound: in American English hot uses /ɑː/.
Hear it: /ɒ/ · in a word: hot
How to make it
- Round your lips and open your jaw.
- Keep it short and low.
- Do not turn it into /əʊ/ (go): there is no glide.
Spellings
| Spelling | Examples |
|---|---|
| o | hot, dog, lot, stop, box, shop |
| a (after w) | want, watch, wash, was |
| other | cough, knowledge |
Compare with /ɔː/
For /ɔː/ round your lips more and hold the sound.
| /ɒ/ | /ɔː/ |
|---|---|
| cot /ɒ/ | caught /ɔː/ |
| shot /ɒ/ | short /ɔː/ |
| pot /ɒ/ | port /ɔː/ |
| not /ɒ/ | north /ɔː/ |
Practice
Drag each word to the vowel it has. On a phone, press and hold a word to drag it, or tap a word and then tap a box. Spelling can mislead you.
Words to sort: hot, dog, lot, stop, want, watch, cough, box, door, more, sport, law, four, thought, short, port. /ɒ/ as in hot; /ɔː/ as in door.
Think about the sound, not the spelling. British pronunciation.
Press 🔊, listen, and choose what you heard. Press it again to hear it again. Each time you start, the sounds are different.
Press 🔊 to hear each sentence. There is no text: drag the word you hear into the gap. The bank has words that do not belong, so listen carefully. On a phone, press and hold a word to drag it, or tap a word and then tap the gap.
Press 🔊 to hear each sentence. There is no text: drag the word you hear into the gap. The bank has words that do not belong, so listen carefully. On a phone, press and hold a word to drag it, or tap a word and then tap the gap.