LumiraWhat is a diphthong?
A diphthong is a vowel sound that glides from one position to another inside a single syllable — your mouth moves as you say it. They are best taught as one unit rather than as two separate vowel sounds.
The ow diphthong — word list
Every word below appears in the decodable book on this page, so a reader who practises the list will meet the same words again in context.
- brown
- clown
- cow
- crown
- down
- frown
- gown
- how
- howl
- now
- owl
- town
Free decodable book: Decodable Diphthong OW
This is an original Lumira decodable reader, written so that a child can sound out nearly every word using patterns they have already been taught. The full text is below — read it here, or open it in the app to read it together with the words highlighting as you speak.
Mia and Leo saw a cow. The cow is brown.
Leo can sit down. Mia can sit down too. They like it.
Mia and Leo went to town now. The town is fun.
A clown had a crown. Mia and Leo saw the clown.
Leo did not frown. Mia did not frown too. They like it.
An owl can howl. Mia and Leo saw the owl too.
Cow how now brown town clown crown down gown howl owl.
How to teach it
- Say the sound on its own first, several times, before showing any letters.
- Show the spelling and name it explicitly — tell the reader what it says rather than asking them to work it out.
- Blend two or three words from the list together, out loud, slowly.
- Read the decodable book above, where the pattern repeats in real sentences.
- Come back to it two or three days later. Cumulative review is what makes it stick.
Lessons that practise this pattern
ow diphthong
Read ow as in cow and brown — the same sound as ou
Word sort: ou vs ow
Sort words that say the same ou/ow sound by spelling
Diphthong review: oi, oy, ou, ow
Mixed review of every diphthong spelling taught so far