The AUGH family

Usually /ɔː/ with a silent gh — caught, taught, daughter. Laugh is the one that says /ɑːf/.

Irregular and heart words

-augh AUGH_01

Word-family rule · Medium reliability · Occasional · Advanced · Reading

• /ɔː/ as in caught: caught, taught, daughter
• /ɑːf/ /æf/ as in laugh: laugh, laughter

Where Wiggler teaches it: Skill 11: Advanced Patterns & Silent Letters

Child explanation

Caught, taught and daughter all have a quiet gh and say /ɔː/. Laugh is different — its gh says /f/.

The rule

Augh is /ɔː/ with a silent gh in caught, taught, naughty, daughter and caught. Laugh and laughter are the exception, with /f/.

What is really going on

A small closed family, related to ough but far more consistent. Because the set is tiny, it is a word family rather than a pattern, and laugh is best taught separately with the other gh-as-/f/ words.

Position in the word

• Middle of a word — Before t, or before ter. For example: caught, taught, daughter, naughty.

Examples

Easy examples

caught, taught, daughter, laugh

More examples

naughty, haughty, slaughter, distraught, laughter

Exceptions

• laugh and laughter: laugh, laughter. The gh hardened to /f/ here, as in rough and cough.

Contrast pairs

• caught versus laugh — Silent gh versus /f/ gh.
• taught versus thought — Two spellings, one sound.

Teacher note

Teach the -aught group with the -ought group: caught, taught, thought and bought are all /ɔːt/, which turns two awkward spellings into one sound family. Handle laugh with rough and cough instead.

Accent notes

• General American — Laugh is /læf/, with the vowel of cat.
• Southern British English — Laugh is /lɑːf/, with the vowel of father. Both are standard.

Related rules

• OUGH — -ough — At least seven pronunciations, and no rule at all. The clearest case in English where remembering the word beats applying a pattern.
• GH — gh — Usually silent, occasionally /f/, and /g/ only at the start of a word. The single most unreliable consonant spelling in English.
• Silent GH — igh / ough / aigh / eigh — The commonest silent letters in English, and the most confusing, because the same gh is /f/ in laugh and cough.
• AU — au — The /ɔː/ of haul and sauce, used inside a word. Pairs with aw, which does the same job at the end.

• Previous in Irregular and heart words: The OULD family — -ould — Would, could, should — three words, a silent l, and a pattern that does not generalise. Shoulder and boulder keep their l.
• All reading rules

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