Accent test

How to pronounce tough, though, through, thorough and thought

The five words share the letters OUGH and no vowel sound. Tough rhymes with “stuff”. Though rhymes with “go”. Through rhymes with “too”. Thought rhymes with “caught”. Thorough is two syllables: “THUR-oh” in American English, “THUH-ruh” in British.

Say all five, then the rest of the family

Press Listen, then Say it. Green means the word was understood.

  • tough/tʌf/
  • though/ðoʊ/
  • through/θru/
  • thorough/ˈθɝoʊ/
  • thought/θɔt/
  • cough/kɔf/
  • enough/ɪˈnʌf/
  • bought/bɔt/
  • although/ˌɔlˈðoʊ/
  • rough/rʌf/
  • dough/doʊ/
  • brought/brɔt/

Runs in your browser with its built-in speech recognition (Chrome, Edge, Safari). Nothing is installed and no account is needed.

The five words

WordSounds likeHow to remember it
tough/tʌf/Rhymes with “stuff”. The GH is /f/.
though/ðoʊ/Rhymes with “go”. Voiced TH; GH silent.
through/θru/Rhymes with “too”. Voiceless TH plus R.
thorough/ˈθɝoʊ/Two syllables, stress on the first. Voiceless TH.
thought/θɔt/Rhymes with “caught”. Voiceless TH; GH silent.

Notice the TH as well: only “though” has the voiced TH of “this”. The other four start with the voiceless TH of “think”.

All the sounds of -OUGH

Sounds likeWords
“uff”tough, rough, enough
“off”cough, trough
“oh”though, although, dough
“oo”through
“aw” + Tthought, bought, brought, fought, ought
“ow”bough, plough, drought
schwa or “oh”thorough, borough

There is no rule that predicts which one a word takes. The spelling froze in the 1400s while the old throat sound written GH disappeared, turning into /f/ in some words and into nothing in others.

A sentence to practise

Say it slowly, then at normal speed: “Though the test was tough, she thought it through and did a thorough job.”

Questions people ask

What is the difference between “though” and “thought”?

“Though” /ðoʊ/ has a voiced TH and ends in the vowel of “go”. “Thought” /θɔt/ has a voiceless TH, the vowel of “law”, and a final T.

Is “thru” the same as “through”?

Same pronunciation. “Thru” is an informal American spelling used on signs (“drive-thru”).

How is “thorough” different from “through”?

“Thorough” has two syllables and a vowel between TH and R. “Through” is one syllable with TH and R together.

Related