A long vowel. The lips are rounded, the mouth is half open and the tongue is back. In British English there is no /r/ at the end: door is /dɔː/.
Hear it: /ɔː/ · in a word: door
How to make it
- Round your lips and hold the sound.
- Open your jaw a little more than for /uː/.
- Do not pronounce the r (British English).
Spellings
| Spelling | Examples |
|---|---|
| or | more, sport, short, north |
| oor / our | door, floor, four, course |
| aw / au | law, saw, draw, cause, August |
| ough / augh | thought, bought, caught |
| al | all, walk, talk, small |
Compare with /ɒ/
Round your lips more and hold /ɔː/; keep /ɒ/ short.
| /ɔː/ | /ɒ/ |
|---|---|
| caught /ɔː/ | cot /ɒ/ |
| short /ɔː/ | shot /ɒ/ |
| port /ɔː/ | pot /ɒ/ |
| north /ɔː/ | not /ɒ/ |
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: more, sport, floor, law, cause, bought, walk, small, hot, dog, box, shop, want, stop, cough, lot. /ɔː/ as in door; /ɒ/ as in hot.
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.