Other vowel sounds: or, ur, ar, ow, ear, air and oy
These vowel sounds are mostly written with r-controlled spellings, digraphs and a few odd ones out. A handful of patterns, like au in the middle and aw at the end, take a lot of the guesswork away.
The sounds and their spellings
| Sound | Spellings | Year 6 examples |
|---|---|---|
| 'or' as in fork | or, ore, au, aw, augh, ough, ar, al, our | order, before, autumn, awkward, caught, quarter, talk, four |
| 'ur' as in bird | ur, er, ir, ear, or, our | furniture, certain, circle, research, world, journey |
| 'ar' as in car | ar, a, al, ear, au | architect, father, calm, heart, laugh |
| 'ow' as in cow | ou, ow, ough | account, crowd, plough |
| short 'u' | u, o, ou | government, stomach, country, young |
| 'ear' as in hear | ear, eer, ere, ier | appearance, career, sincere, pier |
| 'air', 'oy' | air, are, ere, ear / oi, oy | prepare, everywhere, bear / appointment, enjoy |
Patterns worth teaching
- autumn, launch / lawn, drawau in the middle; aw at the end or before n or l.
- out, sound / cow, townou in the middle; ow at the end or before n, l or d.
- appointment / enjoyoi in the middle; oy at the end of a word or syllable.
- warm, quarter / world, worthAfter w: ar says 'or' and or says 'ur'.
The oi/oy rule is one of the most reliable in English. The w rules surprise children: warm rhymes with form, and word rhymes with bird.
The short 'u' spelt o and ou
In a group of very common words, the short 'u' sound is spelt o (government, month, among, nothing, stomach) or ou (country, touch, young, double, trouble). There's no rule; these are old spellings that never changed. They're worth learning as two small groups, little and often, because they appear constantly in writing.
Accents
Some of these sounds vary a lot across the UK. In many northern and Midlands accents, bath and path have a short 'a', not 'ar'; in parts of the West Country the r is sounded. Acknowledge this, because a child who doesn't hear 'ar' in past isn't wrong; they just can't rely on the sound for that word. The spelling is the same everywhere.
In the SATs
Words like awkward, quarter, certain, government, country and appearance are typical of the SATs spelling paper, and several are on the Year 5 and 6 statutory word list. Because many have unusual spellings for common sounds, they reward regular practice in short bursts.
Common mistakes
- orkwardIt's awkward.
- surtainIt's certain, with a soft c and er.
- guvernmentShort 'u' spelt o, and a silent n: government.
- apperanceBuilt from appear: appearance.
Teaching ideas
Position sort
Give pupils au/aw, ou/ow and oi/oy words on cards. They sort each pair and highlight where in the word the spelling sits. Then test the rule on new words.
Build from the root
For words like appearance, enjoyment and appointment, write the root first and add the suffix. Seeing appear inside appearance stops letters being dropped.
Odd one out
Give groups of four words with the same sound, three following a pattern and one not (launch, haunt, autumn, lawn). Pupils spot the odd one out and explain why.
Little and often
Pick five words from one list for a daily two-minute dictation. Short, frequent practice suits these lists better than a long weekly test, because many words just need repeated exposure.
Try it: five quick questions
SATs-style questions to use as a starter or a quick check. Tap to see each answer.
Which is correct? auful / awful
Show answer
awful
Which is correct? enjoiment / enjoyment
Show answer
enjoyment: oy ends the syllable enjoy.
Which is correct? cuntry / country
Show answer
country
Fill the gap: One ___ of an hour is 15 minutes.
Show answer
quarter
Which is correct? reserch / research
Show answer
research
Free worksheets for this topic
Printable A4 PDFs with answers. Free to use in class or at home.
