A and E minimal pairs /æ/ and /e/
Here is a collection of minimal pairs with æ and e sounds. The pronunciation of these pairs of words differ only in the 2 vowel sounds, despite some dissimilar spelling. These two sounds are very similar and English language learners often require some practice to master them adequately.
You may find some exceptions, especially with the /æ/phoneme. This particular phonetic unit is pronounced differently by native English speakers depending on their dialect and where they live in the world.
List of A and E minimal pairs
Below is a list of nearly 100 /æ/ and /e/ minimal pairs that you can use for practice and creating your own pronunciation activities. The free PDF at the top of this page only contains 60 pairs.
Many of these minimal pairs have rather advanced English words and are not particularly suitable for children or speech therapy. The goal here was to compile as many pairs as possible, you can easily sift through them and find the easier words if you need to. You find 24 of the easier words with pictures further down this page.
access excess
adapt adept
amber ember
and end
axe X
bad bed
bag beg
band bend
bangle Bengal
bat bet
batter better
battle betel
bland blend
blast blessed
canyon Kenyan
capped kept
cattle kettle
clans cleanse
command commend
dad dead
dan den
dance dense
drags dregs
expand expend
fad fed
fan fen
fanatic phonetic
faster fester
fatter fetter
flash flesh
flax flecks
frat fret
gas guess
gassed guest
gnat net
hack heck
had head
ham hem
jam gem
knack neck
lad led
lag leg
land lend
lapped leapt
lass less
last lest
lather leather
latter letter
lattice lettuce
madly medley
malady melody
mallow mellow
mammary memory
man men
manned mend
mansion mention
marry merry
mash mesh
mass mess
mat met
pack peck
paddle pedal
palate pellet
pan pen
parish perish
past pest
pastor pester
pat pet
patty petty
rabble rebel
rack wreck
radish reddish
ranch wrench
rant rent
rap rep
ravel revel
sacked sect
sad said
salary celery
sand send
Santa center
sat set
shackle shekel
shall shell
slapped slept
spanned spend
tack tech
tally telly
tamper temper
tan ten
taxed text
than then
thrash thresh
track trek
vassal vessel
vat vet
Minimal Pairs /æ/ and /e/ pictures
Below are some free printable flashcards that have minimal pairs with the ae and e sounds. These picture and word cards can be used to play games or simply be used to make basic pronunciation drills more interesting.
An easy yet effective way to use these cards is to ask students to make sentences with them. Give your learner 2 cards (minimal pairs of course), and ask them to create a sentence or phrase. It is a fun way to practice the ae and e sounds as well as English in general.
Practice sentences
Finally, here are some easy practice sentences with our target sounds that learners can read aloud.
She said she was sad.
He wants to lend some land.
The Kenyan ran through the canyon.
They trek on the track.
The radish is a reddish color.
Shall we collect shells?
