# The Sounds of ough
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sounds-of-ough/755249
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [May 20, 2016, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sounds-of-ough/755249 "2016-05-20T18:48:55Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2016, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sounds-of-ough/755249/1 "2016-05-20T18:48:55Z")
Does -ough win for four-letter sequence with the most different pronunciations in English?
cough/thought
tough/enough
bough
dough/though
hiccough
(5)
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### Author:  [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2016, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sounds-of-ough/755249/2 "2016-05-20T18:58:06Z")
You forgot
through
(6)
Then again so did Dr Seuss: [http://www.amazon.com/Tough-Coughs-Ploughs-Dough-Writings/dp/0688065481](http://www.amazon.com/Tough-Coughs-Ploughs-Dough-Writings/dp/0688065481)
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### Author:  [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2016, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sounds-of-ough/755249/3 "2016-05-20T18:58:42Z")
There are up to 10 depending on dialect. 6 are common in US English. You’re missing “through,” and “cough/thought” are different sounds. “Hiccough” isn’t common in US English, and there are other ones like “Scarborough” (-bruh).
“Slough” has 3 pronunciations depending on if you mean “to slide off,” “a swamp,” or a town.
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### Author:  [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2016, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sounds-of-ough/755249/4 "2016-05-20T18:59:18Z")
Possibly. At least 6, BTW:
though the tough cough and hiccough plough me through
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2016, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sounds-of-ough/755249/5 "2016-05-20T19:01:02Z")
Slough (in one of its meanings) is pronounced “slew,” making six (although it can also be pronounced like “bough.”)
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### Author:  [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2016, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sounds-of-ough/755249/6 "2016-05-20T21:11:57Z")
There’s a well-published historian and author named David McCullough. I don’t even knough hough to pronoughnce that.
ETA: I have a long-time friend from college days whose surname ends with -baugh. It took me a long time to become aware of how he pronounces that. In general, how many different ways might the be to pronounce people’s names ending in -ough and -augh?
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### Author:  [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2016, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sounds-of-ough/755249/7 "2016-05-20T22:21:59Z")
cough/thought -aw (to me anyway :))
cough/thought -ah to someone else?
tough/enough -uff
bough/plough -ow
dough/though -oh
hiccough -up
through -oo
McCullough/Scarborough -uh
slough -ew
Huh, I only knew “slough” as sluff. I’ll take it!
Funny that three lazy words are based on ough, but different sounds:
doughnut - donut
hiccough - hiccup
through - thru
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### Author:  [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2016, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sounds-of-ough/755249/8 "2016-05-20T22:42:49Z")
> [@gigi](#):
>
> cough/thought -aw (to me anyway :))
> cough/thought -ah to someone else?
cough rhymes with off, and so deserves a line of its own.
“lough” is pronounced /lɒx/, so that’s another for the list.
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### Author:  [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2016, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sounds-of-ough/755249/9 "2016-05-20T22:46:28Z")
> [@Colibri](#):
>
> Slough (in one of its meanings) is pronounced “slew,” making six (although it can also be pronounced like “bough.”)
Cite? I have slough rhyming with tough or bough but I never heard it as “slew”.
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2016, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sounds-of-ough/755249/10 "2016-05-20T22:53:21Z")
> [@hibernicus](#):
>
> Cite? I have slough rhyming with tough or bough but I never heard it as “slew”.
[Merriam-Webster](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/slough). It’s an American pronunciation.
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### Author:  [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2016, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sounds-of-ough/755249/11 "2016-05-20T23:10:03Z")
Interesting. I always thought “slough” rhymes with “tough” was used for “comes off” or “peels off” and “slough” rhymes with “eww” was the inlet or body of water. Two different things I thought. I feel the need to argue with Merriam-Webster, for all of the good it will do me. 😛
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### Author:  [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2016, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sounds-of-ough/755249/12 "2016-05-20T23:15:23Z")
> [@ddsun](#):
>
> Interesting. I always thought “slough” rhymes with “tough” was used for “comes off” or “peels off” and “slough” rhymes with “eww” was the inlet or body of water. Two different things I thought. I feel the need to argue with Merriam-Webster, for all of the good it will do me. 😛
If I’m reading correctly, you agree with M-W, their wording is just extra confusing.
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### Author:  [@Ignotus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignotus)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2016, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sounds-of-ough/755249/13 "2016-05-20T23:19:57Z")
_Damn_, is English an impossible language to learn! I hate it though I love its poetry!
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### Author:  [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2016, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sounds-of-ough/755249/14 "2016-05-20T23:28:33Z")
> [@hibernicus](#):
>
> cough rhymes with off, and so deserves a line of its own.
>
> “lough” is pronounced /lɒx/, so that’s another for the list.
Cough/off/thought all have an -aw sound for me. We will be caught in the caught/cot thingie. 🙂
If “cough” has the same vowel sound as “off”, what vowel sound does “thought” have for you?
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### Author:  [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2016, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sounds-of-ough/755249/15 "2016-05-20T23:35:45Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#):
>
> If I’m reading correctly, you agree with M-W, their wording is just extra confusing.
Aaaaaahhhhh!
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### Author:  [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2016, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sounds-of-ough/755249/16 "2016-05-20T23:36:43Z")
Chough - pronounced [_chuff_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chough).
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### Author:  [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2016, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sounds-of-ough/755249/17 "2016-05-20T23:54:08Z")
> [@gigi](#):
>
> Cough/off/thought all have an -aw sound for me. We will be caught in the caught/cot thingie. 🙂
>
> If “cough” has the same vowel sound as “off”, what vowel sound does “thought” have for you?
It’s not about the caught/cot merger. Where in the word “cough” do you _see_ an “f”? Where in “thought” do you _hear_ an “f”?
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### Author:  [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2016, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sounds-of-ough/755249/18 "2016-05-20T23:59:41Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#):
>
> It’s not about the caught/cot merger. Where in the word “cough” do you _see_ an “f”? Where in “thought” do you _hear_ an “f”?
:smack: Thanks, got it. I was concentrating on the vowel sound only.
cough -off
thought -aw
tough/enough/chough -uff
bough/plough -ow
dough/though -oh
hiccough -up
through -oo
McCullough/Scarborough -uh
slough -ew
lough -ɒx
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### Author:  [@flano1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flano1)
#### Post date: [May 21, 2016, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sounds-of-ough/755249/19 "2016-05-21T00:59:31Z")
slight hijack: then there is always " ghoti ".
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### Author:  [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)
#### Post date: [May 21, 2016, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sounds-of-ough/755249/20 "2016-05-21T01:39:03Z")
> [@Ignotus](#):
>
> _Damn_, is English an impossible language to learn!
Here’s a relevant poem: [_The Chaos_](http://ncf.idallen.com/english.html) (aka _English is Tough Stuff_)
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