Is englis a phonetic language?

>>So "bought", &c. rhymes with "wrote"?<<

seriously?! I ain't never heard it pronounced like that b4.

Thanks to those setting me right about "bough" (of a tree) and "bow" (of an arrow), among others, I really messed it up a little. Of course the point was that "bow" (of an arrow) and "bow" (the bending of the upper body) are written the same, while the second "bow" is pronounced the same as "bough". Here the present spelling, which generally serves well for distinguishing homophones, proves utterly counter-productive. :)

bough (of a tree) → bough
bow (to bend the upper body) → bow
bow (of an arrow) → boe