The Complete Guide to English Spelling Rules (27 page)

Note that the word
owl
was once spelled
oule.

The spelling
ow
will occasionally appear in the middle of a word. The use of the
w
is sometimes necessary to prevent the occurrence of three consecutive vowels, as
ou
cannot be followed by a vowel, but
ow
can be followed by a vowel or a consonant. A large number of these apparent anomalies were once spelled with the letter
u
.

Note these words that were once spelled with
ou
instead of our modern
ow
:

C
HAPTER 27

Using
oe, ow, oa

T
he long
o
sound can be spelled in a number of ways, for example, t
hroat, throne, though, throw, hoe, limbo,
etc.

Historical footnote:

The ancient Celts used the
w
much as we use the
u
, and the spelling still exists in modern Welsh. For example,
cwm
is a word that means a small valley. Although
cwm
is the only word of its type left in our dictionaries, it is quite popular in Welsh place names, and its English variation,
combe
, is very common in England.

Spelling rule #1: The most common spelling is the use of the silent
e
to modify the
o
.

In a smaller group are words that end in a simple o:

Another small group consists of those words that end in
oe:

Spelling rule #2: The combination
ow
is usually used at the end of words. It does not change with suffixes or compounds.

One exception to the rule is
bowl
, which used to be spelled
boule.

The only commonly used words that begin with
ow
are
own
and
owe
and their derivatives.

Spelling rule #3: The combination
oa
is usually used in the middle of words:

There are very few commonly used words that begin with
oa,
and only one that ends with
oa.

There are a few words that spell the long
o
as
ou
: