Today we are going to learn some more about what minimal pairs are and how to discriminate one sound in English from another.
Pair of words, as pin and bin, or bet and bed, differing only by one sound in the same position in each word, especially when such a pair is taken as evidence for the existence of a phonemic contrast between the two sounds.
These are some examples of minimal pairs,if you need to check the phonetic transcription or how a word is pronounced.
Visit the Cambridge Online Dictionary for more information
Table of Contents
Vowels: Minimal Pairs /iː/ and /ɪ/
| beach | bitch |
| heat | hit |
| peach | pitch |
| eat | it |
| seat | sit |
| bead | bid |
| beet | bit |
| heed | hid |
| deed | did |
| feet | fit |
| reach | rich |
| green | grin |
| peel | pill |
| seater | sitter |
Vowels: Minimal Pairs /æ/ and /e/
For more information about these two sounds in English, please check these two posts:
| bag | beg |
| bat | bet |
| fast | fest |
| man | men |
| mantle | mental |
Vowels: Minimal Pairs /e/ and /eɪ/
| Fell | Fell |
| Get | Gate |
| Let | Late |
| Fell | Fail |
| Sell | Sale |
| Tech | Take |
| Well | Whale |
| West | Waist |
For more information about these two sounds in English, please check these two posts:
Vowels: Minimal Pairs /æ/ and /ʌ/
| Bat | But |
| Cap | Cup |
| Cat | Cut |
| Match | Much |
| Ran | Run |
| Sang | Sung |
| Bag | Bug |
| Crash | Crush |
| Hang | Hung |
| Mad | Mud |
Vowels: Minimal Pairs /e/ and /ɪ/
| bed | bid |
| Left | Lift |
| Mess | Miss |
| beg | big |
| bell | bill |
| Belt | Built |
| Bet | Bit |
| Bless | Bliss |
| Check | Chick |
| Dead | Did |
| Fell | Fill |
| Desk | Disk |
| Gem | Gym |
| Head | Hid |
Vowels: Minimal Pairs /u:/ and /ɔ:/
| boot | bought |
| cool | call |
| drew | draw |
| flew | flaw |
| fool | fall |
Vowels and Diphthongs: /ɪ/ and /aɪ/
| be | buy |
| cream | crime |
| delete | delight |
| feel | file |
| feet | fight |
| free | fry |
| freeze | fries |
| he | high |
| meal | mile |
| mean | mine |
