The GO Diphthong /oʊ/

One of the most common diphthongs in American English. Hear it in go, home, slow, show.

IPA /oʊ/ Respell oh Category Diphthong
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The /oʊ/ vowel, the go sound, is a two-part gliding vowel Americans use in words like home, boat, cold, and show. Start with your jaw mid-open and lips slightly relaxed, then actively round your lips into a tight circle as your jaw lifts. That motion is what gives the American /oʊ/ its stretch. Spanish and Japanese speakers often cut it short and treat it as a single flat vowel, which is why boat and road can come out sounding clipped. Let the lips finish the job and the sound lands.

How to make it

Three small adjustments.

Get them right and the sound takes care of itself.

Start with your mouth slightly open, then close your jaw slightly as your lips round. Shift your tongue back slightly, then stretch the back up.

First position of /oʊ/ in go
Second position of /oʊ/ in go

Mouth shape

/oʊ/ as in go

Jaw

Mid-open for the beginning, lifting slightly for the ending.

Tongue

Shifts back slightly for the beginning. The back part stretches up for the ending position.

Lips

May start relaxed or begin rounding immediately. End in a rounded position.

Hear it in words

16 everyday words.

Tap any word for its full breakdown — every reduction, every flap-T.

whole
HOHL
goes
GOHZ
know
NOH
goal
GOHL
smoke
SMOHK
growth
GROHTH
quotes
KWOHTS
closed
KLOHZD
snow
SNOH
globe
GLOHB
float
FLOHT
vote
VOHT
throw
THROH
post
POHST
bowl
BOHL
drove
DROHV
Hear it in sentences

In real conversation.

5 short sentences where this sound shows up. Tap to play; click the title for the full breakdown.

The old road goes over the cold ocean coast.

dhee OHLD ROHD GOHZ OH·ver dhuh KOHLD OH·shuhn KOHST.

Joe drove the boat slowly to the remote zone.

JOH DROHV dhuh BOHT SLOH·lee tuh dhuh ruh·MOHT ZOHN.

No one knows the code for the home phone.

NOH wuhn NOHZ dhuh KOHD fer dhuh HOHM FOHN.

The goal is to grow the global role alone.

dhuh GOHL ihz tuh GROH dhuh GLOH·buhl ROHL uh·LOHN.

Note the tone of the whole proposal closely.

NOHT dhuh TOHN uhv dhuh HOHL pruh·POH·zuhl KLOH·slee.
FAQ

Common questions about /oʊ/.

What's the easiest way to make the /oʊ/ vowel in American English?
Think of it as two distinct movements glued together. Start with your mouth slightly open and relaxed, making a short uh or oh sound. Then smoothly glide your mouth closed while pushing your lips forward into a tight, rounded circle. That second half, the glide into the rounded lips, is the part most non-native speakers leave off. If your lips aren't moving while you say the vowel, you're saying a flat O instead of /oʊ/.
Why does my /oʊ/ sound foreign even when I say the right letter?
You're likely holding your mouth still and making a single flat vowel instead of a moving one. Spanish, Italian, and Japanese all use a pure unchanging O. If you bring that flat O into American English, words like road and boat sound clipped. Add the glide: make sure your lips pull into a tight circle by the end of the vowel and let the sound stretch out.
Why does /oʊ/ sound different before an L in "cold" and "old"?
When /oʊ/ sits before an L, the back of the tongue has to do double duty: as the lips round for /oʊ/, the back of the tongue also pulls back and up for the dark American L. The two movements often blend into a tiny built-in /w/ glide between them, making cold sound almost like COH-wuld. Give yourself extra time to slide through both the lip rounding and the heavy L shape.

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