Tono
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American English minimal pairs

Minimal pairs: full and fool

/ʊ/vs/uː/

Hard for speakers of Spanish, Italian, French, Japanese and many others, who have only one “oo” sound.

The difference. /uː/ is long, with the lips tightly rounded; /ʊ/ is short, with the lips and tongue relaxed.

Practice all pairs

8 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. Do not pull him into the pool. Practice
  2. Only a fool eats until he is too full. Practice
  3. Look, Luke is here! Practice
  4. Could you do that for me? 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