Pronunciation & Phonics

Minimal pairs, word stress rules, and silent letters — the three pillars of clear English pronunciation.

🔈 Minimal Pairs — Vowels

/ɪ/vs/iː/
ship / sheep
sit / seat
hit / heat
fill / feel
/æ/vs/e/
bad / bed
man / men
sad / said
had / head
/ʌ/vs/ɑː/
cut / cart
hut / heart
luck / lark
cup / carp
/ɒ/vs/ɔː/
not / nought
cot / caught
fox / forks
pot / port
/ʊ/vs/uː/
full / fool
pull / pool
look / Luke
could / cooed
/eɪ/vs/aɪ/
late / light
main / mine
wait / white
fail / file

🔈 Minimal Pairs — Consonants

/b/vs/v/
bet / vet
berry / very
boat / vote
ban / van
/s/vs/z/
sip / zip
price / prize
ice / eyes
place / plays
/θ/vs/ð/
think / this
math / bathe
thin / then
breath / breathe
/l/vs/r/
light / right
led / red
long / wrong
fly / fry
/ʃ/vs/tʃ/
ship / chip
share / chair
wash / watch
shop / chop
/n/vs/ŋ/
thin / thing
sin / sing
win / wing
ban / bang

📈 Word Stress Rules

Common Stress Patterns
Oo (1st syllable)
Most 2-syllable NOUNS & ADJECTIVES
TAble • HAPpy • WAter • YELlow • DOCtor • NEver
oO (2nd syllable)
Most 2-syllable VERBS
beGIN • deCIDE • forGET • arRIVE • rePEAT • alLOW
Ooo (1st syllable)
Words ending in -ly, -ful, -ness
BEAUtiful • WONderful • HAPpiness • Usually
oOo (2nd syllable)
Words ending in -tion, -sion, -ic
eDUcation • fanTAStic • deCIsion • iMAgine
💡 Noun vs Verb stress shift
Same spelling, different stress: REcord (noun) vs reCORD (verb) • PREsent (noun) vs preSENT (verb) • OBject (noun) vs obJECT (verb)

🗣️ Word Stress: Common Mistakes

Spanish speakers often stress the wrong syllable in these common English words — here's where the stress really falls.

COM-for-ta-ble
es-PESH-a-lly
pho-TOG-ra-phy
NEC-es-sa-ry
de-VEL-op-ment
VEDGE-ta-ble
IN-tres-ting
TEM-pra-ture
un-der-STAND
af-ter-NOON
en-gi-NEER
im-POR-tant

🤐 Silent Letters

k
Silent before N
know • knife • knee • knock • knight
w
Silent before R
write • wrong • wrap • wrist • wreck
b
Silent after M / before T
climb • lamb • bomb • doubt • debt
h
Silent at start (common words)
hour • honest • honor • heir
g
Silent before N
gnat • sign • foreign • design • gnome
l
Silent in common words
walk • talk • half • calm • could • should
t
Silent in -sten, -stle
listen • fasten • castle • whistle • Christmas
p
Silent before S, N (Greek origin)
psychology • pneumonia • receipt