The combination “ough” can be pronounced in 10 different ways

 Oh, English. Just when we’re starting to feel good about you, your strange pronunciation techniques strike again!

 Over the centuries, spelling in the English language was inconsistent, causing the pronunciation of vowels (and even some consonants) to dramatically change. This, plus the fact that English has borrowed words from multiple languages around the world, means combinations like ough have, ahem, evolved in many different ways.

 The following sentence contains them all: “A rough-coated, dough-faced, thoughtful plowman strode through the streets of Scarborough; after falling into a slough, he coughed and hiccoughed.”