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American English minimal pairs

Minimal pairs: cat and cut

/æ/vs/ʌ/

Hard for speakers of Spanish, Italian, Japanese, Korean and many others: both vowels come out as a plain “a”.

The difference. /æ/ is made with the jaw low and the lips spread wide; /ʌ/ is a short, relaxed “uh” in the middle of the mouth.

Practice all pairs

12 word pairs

Say both words in each pair. If Tono colors one of them amber or red, that is the sound to work on.

Contrast sentences

Both sounds in one sentence: the real test of whether you can switch between them.

  1. The cat cut its paw. Practice
  2. Put the cap on the cup. Practice
  3. The fan was fun to watch. Practice
  4. A truck drove down the track. Practice

How to practice minimal pairs

  1. Listen to both words in Tono first, one after the other, until you can hear the difference.
  2. Say the pair slowly and exaggerate the difference. Check that both words come back green.
  3. Say the contrast sentences at normal speed. That is where the mix-up usually comes back.

More minimal pairs

Spanish minimal pairsFrench minimal pairsGerman minimal pairs