The "aw" sound — /ɔ/
As in paw. Tap play to hear the sound, see the mouth shape, and hear 15 example words.
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Grapheme — the letters
aw
What a child sees written down and writes by hand.
Phoneme — the sound
/ɔ/
What a child hears and says out loud — written in IPA, the standard notation for sounds (not letter names).
Mouth shape
Drop your jaw, lips slightly rounded — many American speakers say it like 'ah'
Gesture
Pretend to yawn and say aw-aw-aw
Words to read now
Every letter in these has been taught by this point in the teaching order, so your child can sound them out.
- saw
- paw
- law
- raw
- jaw
- claw
- draw
- straw
- lawn
- hawk
- crawl
- dawn
- shawl
- fawn
Words to listen for the sound
You say these, your child listens for /ɔ/. They use letters or spellings not taught yet, so they’re not for reading.
- yawn
Teach the “aw” sound: free printables
Two free PDFs made for this sound. Print them, or use the full lesson online with audio and games.
“aw” practice sheetFor your child: trace, find the sound in pictures, read and match. Name & date on top. Download PDF
“aw” lesson planFor you: a 10-minute lesson with what to say, the answer key and common mix-ups. Download PDFCompare: /ɔ/ vs /ɑ/
"aw" rounds the lips a little more than "o" — though many Americans say them the same.
Learn the “o” sound →How to teach the “aw” sound
- Hear it first. Tap Play three times. Have your child watch your mouth while you copy the sound — no letter name yet, just the pure phoneme /ɔ/.
- Do the gesture. Pretend to yawn and say aw-aw-aw— kids remember sounds 2× faster when there’s a physical action attached.
- Find it in words. Say a few example words aloud slowly, stretching the /ɔ/ sound: “s–a–w”.
- Spot it around the house. “Can you find something that starts with /ɔ/?” Aim for 3 wins in a row before stopping.
Related sounds in this unit
Turn this into a dated schedule
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ABC Phonics — Sounds for Kids