Tono
Start free

American English minimal pairs

Minimal pairs: three and tree

/θ/vs/t/

Hard for speakers of Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Hindi and Russian, who press the tongue and stop the air.

The difference. For /θ/ the air keeps flowing past a light touch; for /t/ the tongue stops the air completely.

Practice all pairs

10 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. There are three birds in the tree. Practice
  2. Thank you for filling the tank. Practice
  3. She thought about what she taught. Practice
  4. The shirt was torn on a thorn. 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.

Step-by-step help with these sounds: How to pronounce TH in English (/θ/ and /ð/)

More minimal pairs

Spanish minimal pairsFrench minimal pairsGerman minimal pairs