Background

The consonant w is a difficult consonant to learn since it is not reliable as a sound. Most often, it makes the /w/ sound at the beginning of a word or syllable, as represented in words such as wit, wagon, and away. When combined with vowels it takes on a different sound, such as with the diphthong spelling ow in now. It can be a silent letter in words like write and two. It forms a digraph wh and makes a /hw/ sound. To add to the confusion, the vowels o and u make the /w/ sound in words such as one and when the u follows q as in queen.