Oe

əʊ

toe /təʊ/

Together with the article on decoding difficulties, this page sets out words teachers can use to help their students become more aware of how they can sound out more correctly the different sounds corresponding to words containing "oe".

Examples

• /əʊ/: Joe - mistletoe - oboe - toe

plurals: does (female deers), echoes, embargoes, heroes, mosquitoes, potatoes, tomatoes, torpedoes, vetoes

past tense of verbs: demoed, echoed, embargoed, mamboed, tangoed, torpedoed, vetoed, zeroed

third person of verbs: echoes, embargoes, goes, tangoes, torpedoes, vetoes, zeroes

• /ʌ/: does (verb)
• /uː/: canoe, shoe
• /ɜː/: hors d'oeuvre

• "oeu" as /uː/: manoeuvre^BrE (maneuver^AmE)

Different syllables

• /əʊ.e/: poetic, whatsoever
• /əʊ.ɪ/: coefficient, hydroelectric
• /əʊ.ə/: poem, poet, poetry
• /əʊ.ɜː/: coerce
• /uː.e/: whoever

These words don't rhyme

• does (verb) - goes
• toe - shoe
• manoeuvre /məˈnuːvər/ - hors d'oeuvre /ɔːr ˈdɜːrv/

Homophones

• does (female deer) - dose; shoe - shoo; toe - tow; toed - toad - towed;

Graeco-Latin words

Many words with "oe" are of Greek or Latin origin, and some of them are spelled or pronounced differently in British English and American English. A plus sign is used to remind that there is a shared spelling or pronunciation.

Shared spelling	Shared pronunciation	British spelling	Br pronunciation	American spelling	Am pronunciation
amoeba	/əˈmiːbə/			+ameba
	/daɪəˈriːə/	diarrhoea	+/daɪəˈrɪə/	diarrhea
fetus	/ˈfiːtəs/	+foetus
homeopathy	/həʊmiːˈɒpəθiː, hɒmiːˈɒpəθiː/	+homoeopathy
	/ɪˈdiːmə/	oedema		edema
Oedipus	/ˈiːdɪpəs/				+/ˈedəpəs, iːˈdəpəs/
	/iːˈsɒfəɡəs, ɪˈsɒfəɡəs/	oesophagus		esophagus
		oestrogen	/ˈiːstrədʒən/	estrogen	/ˈestrədʒən/
onomatopoeia	/ɒnəmætəˈpiːə/
Phoebe	/ˈfiːbiː/
phoenix (bird)	/ˈfiːnɪks/			+phenix
Phoenix (city)	/ˈfiːnɪks/
subpoena	/səˈpiːnə/			+subpena

See also

• American English v. British English
• Decoding exercises: "ae"