Minimal Pairs

What are Minimal Pairs?

Minimal pairs are pairs of words that differ by only one sound (phoneme) while keeping all other sounds the same. For example, in English:

• ship vs sheep (differ only in the vowel sound)
• pat vs bat (differ only in the initial consonant sound)
• light vs right (differ only in the initial consonant sound)

Why Practice Minimal Pairs?

Minimal pairs are an essential tool for improving pronunciation and listening comprehension in any language. They help you:

• Distinguish similar sounds that might not exist in your native language
• Train your ear to hear subtle differences between sounds
• Improve your pronunciation by practicing the correct articulation of difficult sounds
• Build confidence in speaking and understanding the target language

Our Minimal Pairs App

Practice pronunciation using our free Minimal Pairs app, available on Google Play:

Features:

• Listen and compare words with similar sounds
• Record yourself and compare with native pronunciation
• Currently supports American English and French
• No ads or data collection - focused learning experience