How do u know when the "ou" in route is pronounced as "oo" or "ow"? Or does it just depend on the person who says it
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2I'm marking this as a exact dup too. However, I'd encourage readers to go answer that question, as IMHO this is an issue of dialect, and none of the answers currently over there (particularly the accepted one), really have that right. – T.E.D. Sep 15 '15 at 00:12
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I generally pronounce the verb one way and the noun the other way. (And I switch on alternate days, just to keep it interesting.) – Hot Licks Sep 15 '15 at 00:13
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2I don't recommend that Question's answers. The fact is that there are a lot of different pronunciations of route, especially in America. /rut/ and /rawt/ are both common, and people don't always care or even distinguish. The answers there give a lot of approximate spellings, which is more confusing than helpful, and they support the silly presupposition that there is only one "correct" pronunciation. – John Lawler Sep 15 '15 at 00:23
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In American English both route rhyming with shout and route rhyming with boot are acceptable, however in British English only route rhyming with boot is used, as rout is already an exiting British word with that pronunciation.
EDIT: John has informed me that rout is also an American English word as well, however the pronunciations stay the same.
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Rout is an accepted word in the US, too. But that doesn't bother us any. – John Lawler Sep 15 '15 at 00:24