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[There are many books and tapes on English pronunciation in your schools, libraries and book stores, so we will not deal with that issue here.  When we talk about long vowel sounds or short vowel sounds, or any other sounds represented by written letters, it will always be the standard American English alphabet and sounds that we are referring to. Also, sounds such as Long I and Long O will be treated as individual sounds rather than as dipthongs (blended vowel sounds) that linguists would call them.]

Words that end with ought or aught will almost always end with the sound of -ot  as in not. 

The only other common way to spell that sound is with the letters  OT, as in the words  not, got, lot, plot, spot. Therefore, when you want to spell a word that ends with the -ot sound, you have but three choices, -ot , -aught, or -ought.  All you need to do is memorize the shorter list of words ending with -aught and -ought.  Then, when you want to spell a word ending with the -ot sound and that word is not on the list you memorized, you will know that it should be spelled with the letters -OT (unless it is an exception we have not thought of).

• Rough, tough and enough rhyme with each other and end with the same sound as stuff.  Using the words in a rhyme might help you remember that they are spelled alike so if you know how to spell any one of them, you will know the others, also: I'm rough and tough and that's enough. 
• Bough, a tree limb, rhymes with cow,  a four-footed animal that gives milk. Bough also rhymes with bow, what a stage performer does after the show, bending at the waist toward the audience.  But then, how do you tell the difference between bow (rhymes with how) and  bow (rhymes with go), which is what one shoots an arrow with?  This is where the idea of CONTEXT comes in.  Context refers to the situation in which the word is used - what the other words in the sentence are referring to.  "After the archer shot an arrow into the bull's eye, he leaned his bow against the bough and gave a bow to the audience."  The words archer and arrow tell us that the first bow probably refers to the instrument with which an arrow is shot, which means it will rhyme with GO.  The second bow is used in a part of the sentence which includes the word audience, so this probably refers to the action of bending at one's waist as a sign of respect or appreciation and will rhyme with HOW or NOW.
• Though rhymes with go or show.  In advertisements or informal writing it is often written as tho, which seems much more logical.
• Through ends with a Long U sound and is pronounced the same as threw, what Sammy did with the baseball.  "Sammy threw the ball through the window."  How can you remember which is which?  Think about who threw something.  He threw ; She threw ; We threw ; They threw.  Notice the letter E in each of the words.  (What if I threw or You threw?  I guess you would still have to think of threw with he, she, we or they.)  Remember that the word that means "sent an object flying by releasing it from one's swinging hand"  has an E in it, thus must be threw.
• Cough rhymes with off
• Another odd word is  draught, which rhymes with shaft.

2. The -ight dilemma: There is a family of words in English that ends with the letters -ight and is pronounced kind of like "ah-ee-t", or like a long i + t. Hundreds of years ago, the gh was pronounced, but time and speech patterns changed; Now you just have to write the letters, not pronounce them. These words rhyme with  bite or kite.   -ight is a large family and when you hear that sound in a word, there is a better than 60% chance that you will be correct if you spell it with -ight.

• The main branch of the family consists of: fight, light, night, might, right, tight, sight, insight, mighty, fighter, nightly, wight, fright, delight, bright.

2 1/2.  Eigh: A silly way to spell A.  All of the words in this family share the same spelling of the sound of Long A.    eight, freight, weight rhyme with gate. Since there are only a few members of this family, you should be able to remember them easily. Try this: "What is the weight of the freight on car number eight?"   If you are able to spell any of these words, then you will know the others because the endings are all the same.

•  Relatives of the -eight family are weigh and sleigh. These words keep the Long A sound, but without the T at the end. Weigh and sleigh rhyme with way and slay. 

3.  Words with beginning letters that are silent. A method often  used when learning to spell such words is to pronounce the silent letter to yourself every time you write the word. If you do that all the time, every time, you will not forget. But how, you may ask, does one know which words begin with silent letters if you hear the words but do not see them? That is simple....you cannot. That is why it is important to read as much as possible so you become familiar with just about any word you are likely to hear.

• Silent P - psychology, psychiatrist, psychoanalysis, pneumatic, pneumonia. As you are preparing to write the word, say to yourself, "p-sy-chol-ogy", not "sy-chol-ogy" or "p-neu-mon-ia", not "neu-mon-ia".
• Silent k - knife, know, knew, knit, knapsack, knuckle, knock, knickers. The same trick works with these words. EVERY time you write the word, pronounce the silent K to yourself, so as you write you are thinking, "k-nife", not "nife", and "k-nap-sack", not "nap-sack"
• Miscellaneous: gnat, gnaw. Use the same method as with the Silent P and the Silent K.

4.  Try different ways to study.  People learn new information in different ways.  These are called "Learning Styles".  Some people simply need to read new information and it seems to stick in their brains as if it were glued there, or as if they had a video recorder in their heads.  Other people learn new things better if they hear it explained or described.  Still others need to use the new information in some way, such as reading it aloud or discussing it with someone or by writing it on a chalkboard or in a notebook.  Many people like to use a combination of these methods.  Here is a good rule to follow:  The more difficult something is for you to learn, the more you need to use extra channels to get the information into your brain.

Learning Channels (How information gets into our brains):

Assignment:  Write all the spelling words from this page in your notebook.  Allow 3 lines for each word.  On the first line, write the first two or three definitions of the word (if there are that many).  On the second line, use the word in a sentence that you make up.  On the third line, write the word one letter at a time as you say each letter aloud.  Look at the word carefully, then close your eyes and picture the word with each letter clearly visible.  Write the word with your eyes closed.  Repeat these steps until you are sure that you know the word completely.  When you have studied 10 words this way, get a friend ( or enemy or relative) to read each word to you as spell the word and use it in a sentence.  

Note: Of course, there is no need to do this with words you already know, but be honest with yourself.  If you cannot spell the word correctly or use it in a sentence, then you need to study it.

For more frustration, meet the Word Families on the next page.

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