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“Aught” or “Ought”

aught / ought are similar-sounding terms with different meanings (referred to as homophones). To better understand the differences, see below for definitions, pronunciation guides, and example sentences using each term.

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Definitions

What each term means

Same sound, different spellings and meanings, shown with a pronunciation guide for each term.

aught

No dictionary entry for this spelling — see the usage examples below for how it shows up in writing.

ought AO·t

No dictionary entry for this spelling — see the usage examples below for how it shows up in writing.

Usage

Examples in context

Real sentences for each spelling. Hover an example to copy it.

“aught”

No example sentences found for this spelling.

“ought”

  • …I don't know if you ought to do this thing.
  • …either in ethics, but it ought not to lag behind the…
  • Thus, the Court ought to give effect to the…
  • …it was not what it ought to be.
  • …closely linked with ours, it ought to have kept us better…
  • …theory, the peoples and revolutionaries ought to unite with the reactionary…
  • …theology wherein a special primacy ought to be granted to Peter's…
  • …note in his diary "we ought to reward the Arabs for…
  • …to "create a film which ought, in principle, to have caused…
  • Someone ought to be kicked".

Examples are Wikipedia snippets under the CC ShareAlike 3.0 license. Definitions are drawn from WordNet.

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