More about the < u > / < o > interrelationship

There was an increasing tendency to use < o > instead of < u > when that helped to make the spelling clearer. Compare the two examples on the left. The first < uv > is written in the script of the time, then as < ov >. The contrast in clarity is obvious.

Similar considerations of visual clarity have had an influence in the phoneme / ᴧ / coming to be represented by < o > when Modern English speakers might expect < u >.

among      come      mother      other
  ton           won         some       none
honey       front      monkey     month