In this video lesson we are going to learn about minimal pairs in English. These are a pair of two words that sound almost the same but that differ in one sound in the same position.

For example:

sheep /ʃi:p/ & ship /ʃɪp/    – the only difference here is the long & a short vowel sound /ɪ/ in the same position within the word

OR:

make /meɪk/ & cake /keɪk/ - here, the only difference is the initial consonant sound

It is important to remember that we go by sound, not the spelling of letters! The lesson will explain exactly what minimal pairs are. It also gives various examples of minimal pairs in English phonology using phonemic transcription with vowel sound as well as consonant sound changes.

---