2nd Grade spelling
2nd Grade OU and OW Words
Spelling words with ou and ow for the sound in cloud and cow, like house, round, town and crown. Play hangman or print a worksheet with an answer key.
Read the spelling list
The pattern: The /ow/ sound as in cloud and cow. Words where ow says long o (snow) are left out.
The sound in out and cow, the /ow/ diphthong, has two common spellings: ou, as in cloud and house, and ow, as in cow and town. Like oi and oy, there is a loose rule of position. Ou usually sits in the middle of a word, and ow often comes at the end or before n or l, as in down, crown and owl. There are exceptions, so students will need to see the words many times.
The two groups here make the choice visible. Under ou are out, house, found, sound, round, count, loud and mouse. Under ow are how, now, down, town, crowd, clown and gown. Words where ow says long o, like snow and show, are left off, since we checked each word by pronunciation. Wound appears on the ou list, but be aware that the verb, to wound, rhymes with moon, while the past tense of wind rhymes with found; the printable only shows the spelling, so treat it as a conversation starter.
28 entries. Our solver needed 6.4 wrong guesses on average: 0 easy, 7 medium and 21 hard. The toughest is wow (13 misses), the quickest out (3).
ou
- out Medium · 3
- house Medium · 4
- found Hard · 7
- sound Hard · 5
- round Medium · 4
- doubt Medium · 4
- count Hard · 6
- loud Hard · 7
- mount Hard · 7
- bound Hard · 10
- pound Hard · 8
- mouse Hard · 5
- wound Hard · 9
- couch Hard · 5
ow
- how Hard · 12
- now Hard · 7
- down Hard · 6
- town Hard · 5
- wow Hard · 13
- crowd Hard · 5
- crown Medium · 4
- bow Hard · 9
- cow Hard · 10
- clown Hard · 5
- owl Hard · 5
- gown Hard · 7
- drown Medium · 3
- browse Medium · 4
Words worth a closer look
- doubtThe b is silent, as in debt. Ou makes the /ow/ sound here, just as in house.
- woundThe ou can be said two ways: as in found for the past tense of wind, or as in moon for an injury. Context decides the sound.
- bowTwo sounds and two meanings: a bow in the hair rhymes with go, and to bow in front of a crowd rhymes with cow.
- browseEnds in silent e, and the ow sound is the same as in brown. Students often write brouse.
- owlStarts with the diphthong, so the word is only three letters and three sounds. Few clues for a hangman player.
Teaching it
The common errors are using ow in the middle of a word and ou at the end, such as writing hous or nou. Another problem is that ow has two sounds, the /ow/ in cow and the long o in snow, so students who know both may wonder which applies. Say the word, listen, and if it sounds like cow, both ou and ow are possible.
In hangman, tell the players the word has the /ow/ sound and let them guess which spelling it uses. After the round, have the class find the pattern: does the word end with the sound, or is it followed by something? Add n, d, l to the chart (down, crowd, owl) so students see that ow often goes before those letters.
Print a 2nd Grade OU and OW Hangman worksheet
Eight puzzles on one US Letter page, with a clue, letter blanks, an empty frame to draw in, an alphabet strip to cross off and circles to count misses. Page two is the answer key.
Need another sheet?
Draw eight different words from this list, right here. Same layout, new answer key.
Keep going
- 2nd Grade AI WordsSpelling words with the ai vowel team for long a, like rain, mail and paint. Play hangman with the list or print a worksheet with an answer key.
- 2nd Grade AY WordsSpelling words ending in ay, such as day, play, away and birthday. Play hangman with the list or print a worksheet with an answer key.
- 2nd Grade EE WordsSpelling words with ee for the long e sound, including see, need, week and queen. Play hangman with the list or print a worksheet with an answer key.
- 2nd Grade EA WordsSpelling words where ea makes the long e sound, like team, meat, steam and beach. Play hangman with the list or print a worksheet with an answer key.
- 2nd Grade OA WordsSpelling words with oa for the long o sound, such as boat, coat, road and soap. Play hangman with the list or print a worksheet with an answer key.
- 2nd Grade IGH WordsSpelling words with igh for the long i sound, like night, light, high and bright. Play hangman with the list or print a worksheet with an answer key.