Minimal Pairs - /æ/ and /e/

Minimal Pairs - As you know minimal pairs are words that differ by only one sound. This sound can be a vowel or a consonant (English alphabet has 26 letters - 5 are vowels and rest consonants)

Difference Between /æ/ and /e/

Let’s talk about minimal pairs /æ/ and /e/ - what’s the difference-?

Try saying ‘bed’ – when you make the /e/ sound, your tongue is in the front part of your mouth and raised a little towards your palate. 

Now say ‘bad’ – when you make the /æ/ sound, your tongue is low, and your mouth opens wide.

Focus on the pronunciation, listen to the sounds and repeat.

Words Examples With Sentences

• Bet / Bat

• Bet - a wager / Bat - a specially shaped wooden piece to hit a ball

• I bet he will bat better this time around.

• Beg / Bag

• Beg - to make a strong request / Bag – a container with handles made of leather, plastic, paper, or cloth

•  Please do not beg, I will lend you that bag.

• Bend / Band

• Bend – to make something change shape or someone submit / Band – a group of musicians
•  We cannot bend the rules and take you in the band.

• Blend / Bland 

• Blend – mixture / Bland – flavorless
• This spice blend is very bland.

• Celery / Salary 

•  Celery - a green plant / Salary - wage

•   You can try selling celery to earn a salary.

• End / And

• End - to finish or stop / And – conjunction used to connect words or parts of a sentence
• They argued and that was the end of their relationship.

• Fest / Fast

•  Fest - a festival / Fast - quickly

•   The fest fast turned into a nightmare.

• Fleshy / Flashy

• Fleshy – overweight / Flashy - expensive or brightly coloured
• He is fleshy and wears flashy clothes.

• Kettle / Cattle

• Kettle – a container to boil water / Cattle - bovine animals (cows, bulls, etc) kept for milk and meat
•  You use a kettle to boil water, not cattle.

• Dead / Dad

•   Dead – not living / Dad - father
•   Their dad has been dead for 10 years.

• Gem / Jam

•   Gem – precious or semi-precious stone / Jam - fruit spread
•   I bought some jam and chocolate gems.

• Hem / Ham

• Hem – edge of a cloth folded over and sewn / Ham – smoked and salted upper part of pig leg
• She tried to steal the ham by stuffing it in the hem.

• Lend / Land 

• Lend – to give something with the condition it will be returned after sometime / Land – part of Earth’s surface not underwater.
•  Can you lend me the money to buy that land?

• Letter / Latter

•  Letter – a written message delivered by mail/ Latter – second of two things or people

•  The latter half of the letter was quite offensive.

• Men / Man

• Men – plural of man / Man – a male human being
•  Can one man fight 10 men?

• Mesh / Mash

• Mesh – interwoven or intertwined / Mash – crushing something to a pulp
• Use this mesh to strain the mash.

• Merry / Marry

•   Merry - happy / Marry - marriage
•   I am going to marry a merry girl.

• Melody / Malady 

• Melody- a musical tune / Malady – disorder or sickness

• This soothing melody will help you deal with the malady.

• Pen / Pan

• Pen – instrument for writing or drawing / Pan – a container used for cooking

• I asked you for a pen and you got me a pan.

• Pet / Pat

•   Pet – domestic animal / Pat – a popular name or to stroke with a hand
•   Pat got a new pet bird.

• Peck / Pack

•  Peck – a quick kiss / Pack – to fill a space
•  He gave her a peck on the cheek and started to pack his bags.

• Pedal / Paddle

• Pedal – a foot lever to control certain vehicles / Paddle – an oar to row a boat
• He hit the pedal with a paddle and broke it.

• Said / Sad

•  Said – a past form of say / Sad - unhappy
•   John said he was sad.

• Send / Sand

• Send – dispatch / Sand – a granular material
• Could you please send in a truckload of sand immediately?

• Shell / Shall

• Shell – a hard outer covering of nuts, eggs, some fruit or animals / Shall – modal verb for future tense or to express intention

• What shall I do with all these shells?

• Ten / Tan

•  Ten – a number after 9 / Tan – having dark skin after being in sun for long

• A spray tan can last up to ten days.

• Temper / Tamper

• Temper – prone to anger / Tamper – to change something in order to cause damage
•  He lost his temper when he caught his son tempering with the alarm.

• Trek / Track

•  Trek – to walk a long distance / Track – rough path or road
•  We went for a trek and found a great spot, off the beaten track.

What is English Everyday

English Everyday is an English course with 24/7 live speaking lessons for English learners who want unlimited speaking practice with native speakers, professional teachers, and students from around the world. 

You have live speaking lessons where you can join an unlimited amount of lessons every day. There's a lesson almost every hour and you can join all of them and also, you can review all record lessons. English Everyday contains a lot of conversation practice for each level of English (A2, B1-B2, C1), and also you have a calendar of scheduled lessons so you can see when lessons are and at what time you can join and start speaking.

In English Everyday program, you have 24/7 support and also you have student chat where you can speak with other students from all around the world. You can look at our feedback page so that you can know from which countries our students are. Before you join our program, we strongly recommend you sign up for our free seminar with Kris Amerikos, where you can learn:

• What goals you need to have to get better results 
• How to become fluent in English very quickly
• What you need to do to have perfect pronunciation
• The 3 biggest mistakes you need to avoid
• Which free resources will help you learn English
• The best resource to use to improve your speaking