Trouble is only opportunity in work clothes.
Henry Kaiser

Words spelled with the letter o can cause many frustrations for students of the American accent. You have already learned that the pronunciation of a vowel does not necessarily correspond to the spelling of the vowel. This is especially true of the letter o. The letters o in the words job, love, and only are all pronounced differently.

This quote from Helen Keller contains fourteen words spelled with the letter o and features all three different vowel pronunciations: "When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us." The confusion surrounding the letter o for non-native speakers is certainly understandable!

The Neutral Sound /ɘ/

First, let’s look at the most problematic sound with an o spelling. It’s the neutral sound /ɘ/, as in love, other, and Monday, which non-native speakers frequently mispronounce as laav, ather, and Mahn day. The wrong pronunciation occurs because the /ɘ/ doesn’t exist in some languages and also because learners are used to this sound usually being spelled with the letter u as in up, fun, and Sunday. You will improve your American accent if you simply memorize some very common words with the neutral /ɘ/ sound that are spelled with an o, or ou, or even oo. Start by studying the pronunciation exceptions in the chart below.