Common English words with the "short u (book)" sound (IPA ʊ)

ʊ

Common English words with this sound

short u (book)

A CEFR-graded selection of the most common words that include this phoneme, sorted by learner level (A1 first). Both GA and RP shown when they differ. Tap Listen for audio.

Word GA RP Level Listen
book /bʊk/ A1
bookstore /ˈbʊkˌstɑr/ /ˈbʊkˌstɔː/ A1
cook /kʊk/ A1
cookie /ˈkʊki/ A1
could /kʊd/ A1
could've /ˈkʊdəv/ A1
couldn't /ˈkʊdn̩t/ A1
football /ˈfʊtˌbɑl/ /ˈfʊtˌbɔːl/ A1
full /fʊl/ A1
good /ɡʊd/ A1
look /lʊk/ A1
notebook /ˈnoʊtˌbʊk/ /ˈnəʊtbʊk/ A1
poor /pʊr/ /pʊə/ A1
push /pʊʃ/ A1
put /pʊt/ A1
should /ʃʊd/ A1
should've /ˈʃʊdəv/ A1
shouldn't /ˈʃʊdn̩t/ A1
stood /stʊd/ A1
sugar /ˈʃʊɡɚ/ /ˈʃʊɡə/ A1

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