Elk (American) sounds like a cow (English) (5)
I believe the answer is:
moose
'elk' is the definition.
(I know that elk can be written as moose)
'sounds like a cow english' is the wordplay.
'sounds like a cow' becomes 'moos' (cows go moo).
'english' becomes 'E' (abbreviation as in OED).
'moos'+'e'='MOOSE'
'american' acts as a link.
This may not be correct. It may belong to another bit of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for moose that I've seen before include "beasts" , "US deer with enormous antlers" , "North American deer" , "Ungulate" , "Large N American deer like European elk" .)