Minimal pairs to practice the English phonemes listening.
Sounds distinguished:
'British short O' (like: Cot vs Caught)
'ending M' vs 'ending N' (like: Beam vs Bean)
'ending N' vs 'ending NG' (like: Thin vs Thing)
'short A' vs 'short E' (like: Bad vs Bed)
'short A' vs 'short E' [before a 'N', 'M' or 'NG'] (like: Man vs Men)
'short I' vs 'long E' (like: Sit vs Seat)
'short U' vs 'long U' (like: Look vs Luke)
'unvoiced TH' vs 'D' (like: Faith vs Fade)
'unvoiced TH' vs 'F' (like: Thought vs Fought)
'unvoiced TH' vs 'S' (like: Fourth vs Force)
'unvoiced TH' vs 'T' (like: Three vs Tree)
'unvoiced TH' vs 'voiced TH' (like: Ether vs Either)
'voiced TH' vs 'D' (like: Those vs Doze)
'voiced TH' vs 'T' (like: These vs Tease)
'voiced TH' vs 'Z' (like: Breathe vs Breeze)
Step by step:
You will listen one word from a question like that:
Beam or Bean? (one of these is pronounced)
Choose one of them:
- "I heard 'beam'."
Click in "Show Answer" and see if you was right:
Beam. ('Beam' is pronounced again and you was right)
I used a basic card template in Anki to make this flashcards.
The sound files are from
Forvo.com and they are in various dialects.
You are free to manipulate these Flashcards for your own use. Feel free to share it.