American English minimal pairs

Minimal pairs: sing and sin

/ŋ/vs/n/

Hard for speakers of Spanish and Greek, who often end the word with n, for speakers of Italian, who tend to add a g after it, and for speakers of southern Mandarin dialects, where the two endings merge.

The difference. For /ŋ/ the back of the tongue closes against the soft palate, as at the start of a “g”; for /n/ the tongue tip touches the ridge behind the teeth.

Practice all pairs

9 word pairs

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

sing sin Practice
thing thin Practice
king kin Practice
bang ban Practice
wing win Practice
sung sun Practice
rang ran Practice
ping pin Practice
gong gone Practice

Contrast sentences

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

He sang until the sun went down. Practice
The thing is too thin. Practice
The bell rang and we ran. Practice
You win if you find the wing. Practice

How to practice minimal pairs

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

More minimal pairs

Spanish minimal pairs French minimal pairs German minimal pairs