ESOL Teacher Resources - Minimal Pairs for ESOL Students' Pronunciation (Part 1)

Minimal pairs are two words that are similar in sound but have one phonemic difference between them. Minimal Pairs exercises are used to help students practice and improve their pronunciation of distinct sounds in English. Because some English phonemes are difficult to hear and pronounce, minimal pairs exercises can be used to provide extra practice with particularly difficult phonemes. This practice is helpful for ESOL students because they are able to concentrate their pronunciation efforts on areas of difficulty.

There are different ways that minimal pairs exercises may be used. Teachers may choose to review minimal pairs with their students as a whole class. Other teachers may choose to have their students work with a partner and “quiz” each other by having one student read one of the words in the minimal pair and having the partner point to the word that he/she hears pronounced. Caution should be taken, however, to ensure that students are not required to decode words that are beyond their skill level. Therefore, it may be best to use Minimal Pairs exercises initially in a teacher-guided format where you, the teacher, read the words on the list aloud and your students listen for the differences. You can also use these lists as a guide to create Minimal Pairs exercises that contain words your students can decode.

If you would like to use the Minimal Pairs exercises as a vocabulary development exercise simultaneously, you can create pictures that represent the words in each Minimal Pair to teach or reinforce the meaning of vocabulary while practicing the pronunciation of the words. Students can also put words in meaningful context sentences.

Following are a few example lists of minimal pairs. (See also Part 2 for minimal pairs practice with vowel sounds in English, and Part 3 for minimal pairs practice with murmur diphthongs and special vowel sounds.)

Contrast the following sounds:

/b/ and /d/	/b/ and /p/	/p/ and /f/	/t/ and /d/	/l/ and /r/	/g/ and /k/	/y/ and/j/
bad dad bean dean bark dark bib bid beep deep bunk- dunk big dig bump- dump cub cud robe road rib rid brag drag sob sod brain- drain web wed bribe bride bait date stub stud bay day buck duck	rib rip mob mop gab gap lab lap big pig bet pet sub sup but putt	pan fan past fast pat fat paint- faint pig fig gulp gulf beep beef cheap- chief leap leaf cop cough pace face copy coffee pact fact pale fail pile file	bat bad ate aid fat fad fate fade hat had set said pat pad knot nod pot pod hurt- heard ten den heart- hard tip dip tent dent coat code	lock rock liver- river lake rake light- right fly fry blue brew glass- grass flea free flute fruit long- wrong	got cot clog clock grab crab tugged- tucked glad clad ghost coast bag back gripped- crypt bug buck grew crew lag lack haggle hackle peg peck rig rick tug tuck	yam jam yard- jarred yet jet use juice year jeer yacht jot yoke joke yak Jack yes Jess yell gel

/sh/ and/ch/	/s/ and /sh/	/b/ and /v/	/r/ and /w/	/v/ and /w/	/v/ and /f/	/s/ and /th/
bash batch she’s cheese hash hatch hush hutch lash latch mash- match marsh- march mush much	mass mash crust- crushed sake shake fist fished same- shame rust rushed save shave sack shack seat sheet cell shell sip ship sock shock plus plush said shed self shelf sigh shy sell shell	base- vase bend- vend bent- vent best vest boat vote bail veil bow vow berry- very	ray way crest- quest rent- went raise- ways rate wait rich- witch rave- wave rail wail raid- wade rage- wage rest west raced- waist	vet wet vow wow vest west viper- wiper vent went vary- wary vend- wend vine wine Vic wick verse- worse	vat fat have- half vast fast view few vest fest veil fail save safe vine fine veal feel leave- leaf strive- strife lived lift	mass- math tense- tenth moss moth force forth pass path sigh thigh seam- theme gross- growth sin thin mouse- mouth face faith saw thaw sank thank worse- worth sink think some- thumb sick thick

Note: Information adapted from the Decoding Strategies for Literacy Development manual published by Reading Horizons.