Diphthongs "ou & "ow"

​🌟 “Ow & Ou Make That /ow/ Sound!”

Learning the two vowel teams that say /ow/ — like in cow and house!

What Is a Diphthong?

A diphthong is when two vowel letters work together to make one new sound.

Today we’re learning the /ow/ sound made by:
👉 ow
👉 ou

Examples:

• ow → cow, brown, flower

• ou → house, shout, cloud

The Sound They Make

Both ow and ou can make the same /ow/ sound as in:

• cow

• house

Let’s say it together:
“/ow/ like when you stub your toe — OW!”

Words with OW

Common ow words:

• cow

• brown

• flower

• clown

• towel

• crowd

Sentences:
🌼 The flower grew tall.
🤡 The clown made us laugh.

Words with OU

Common ou words:

• house

• mouse

• shout

• cloud

• ground

• round

Sentences:
🐭 The mouse ran fast.
🌧️ The gray cloud moved slowly.

How to Tell Which Spelling to Use

Sometimes you must sound it out and try it.

• ou is used most often in the middle of a word

• ow is often used at the end of a word

Examples:

• house → middle

• cow → end

• flower → end of first syllable

Categorize

Options (16)

crown

town

pillow

brown

howl

frown

cow

vowel

cloud

found

round

sound

mouse

house

loud

shout

Sorting Activity – OW or OU?

Ow words

Ou Words

Match

Match the picture to the correct word:

• cow

• house

• cloud

• clown

• sprout

🐄

🏠

🌧️

🤡

🌱

• 🐄

• 🏠

• 🌧️

• 🤡

• 🌱

Multiple Choice

Directions: Choose the word with the correct /ow/ spelling.

Which word is spelled correctly?

• cown

• couw

• cow

• cuh

Multiple Choice

Directions: Choose the word with the correct /ow/ spelling.

Which word means “a big group of people”?

• croun

• crowd

• croud

• crowed

Multiple Choice

Choose the correct word to complete the sentence:

The gray ___ is full of rain.

• clowd

• cloud

• clawed

• claud

Multiple Choice

Directions: Choose the word with the correct /ow/ spelling.

Which word means “to yell”?

• shoult

• showt

• shout

• shawt

Multiple Choice

Directions: Choose the word with the correct /ow/ spelling.

Which word is spelled correctly?

• mowse

• mawse

• mowce

• mouse

Multiple Choice

Directions: Choose the word with the correct /ow/ spelling.

Which word means “a baby plant”?

• sprawt

• sproot

• sproul

• sprout

Multiple Choice

Choose the best word for the sentence:

The dog will ___ if you scare it.

• growl

• gral

• graol

• groul

Multiple Choice

Directions: Choose the word with the correct /ow/ spelling.

Choose the word spelled correctly:

• town

• toun

• tawn

• towne

Multiple Choice

Which word fits the sentence?

We sat on the soft ___ in the living room.

• cowch

• couch

• cowche

• coulch

Multiple Choice

Choose the word that makes the /ow/ sound:

• snow

• soup

• slow

• brown