Table.

Thirteen different ways of pronouncing –ough

Pronunciation	Example
English pronunciations
Aw	Bought, brought, fought, nought, ought, rought, sought, thought, wrought
Off	Cough, trough
Oh	Dough, furlough, though
Oo	Brougham, through (also, in USA, slough)
Ow	Bough, clough, doughty, drought, nought, plough, slough, sough
Uff	chough, clough, enough, grough, rough, shough, slough, tough
Uh	Borough, thorough (in USA these are pronounced “oh-roh,” but in England they are pronounced “uh-ruh,” giving an extra category)
Scottish and Irish pronunciations
Okh (as in loch)	Brough (an alternative spelling of broch), dought, hough, lough, turlough
Ookh	Sough, through-stane
Alternative pronunciations with -ough
Og, ok	Shough (=shock), hough (=hock) (these arise because the English cannot pronounce “okh”; for example, for loch, they say “lock” instead of “lokh”)
Ug	Oughly (=ugly, 17th century, used by Milton in Comus (1634) line 695)
Up	Hiccough (misspelling; should be hiccup (see BMJ 1996;313:1326))