S and T minimal pairs
S and T minimal pairs pictures
Above and below there are 4 pages with 32 printable picture and word cards. These can be used to make learning more fun by adding visuals and playing different kinds of flashcard games.
They contain mostly simple words that lower-level students and children can understand or learn easily. The cards feature the minimal pairs S and T in the initial and final positions.
The pairs of words included are –
Sheet 1 – sack tack, sank tank, sap tap, and sea tea.
Sheet 2 – sail tail, sell tell, sew toe, and sick tick.
Sheet 3 – ace eight, ducks duct, hiss hit, and kiss kit.
Sheet 4 – mince mint, palace pallet, prince print, and rice right.
One fun activity that you can do with these flashcards in the ESL classroom is to have a minimal pairs listening activity.
To do this, choose a pair and say one of the words. Learners are to try and guess which word you said. If the picture and word cards have been cut out, students can hold up the word they heard.
To make this even more challenging, hide your mouth behind a book or sheet of paper so learners cannot lip read. You can also choose 5 or more minimal pairs and read them aloud in succession.
S and T minimal pairs lists
Here are some useful word lists that you can use to create your own materials on minimal pairs with S and T. The lists are in alphabetical order and have been separated into the initial, medial, and final positions.
Initial pairs
cellar teller
sable table
sack tack
sad tad
sag tag
sail tail
sailor tailor
saint taint
sake take
same tame
sang tang
sank tank
sap tap
scene teen
sea tea
seam team
sear tear
seat teat
seer tier
seize tease
sell tell
send tend
sent tent
sew toe
sick tick
side tide
sigh tie
sin tin
sing ting
singe tinge
single tingle
sip tip
six ticks
sock tock
soil toil
sold told
sole toll
son ton
sonic tonic
soon tune
sooner tuner
sore tore
sort taught
sour tower
soy toy
sub tub
such touch
suck tuck
suffer tougher
suitor tutor
surf turf
swede tweed
sweet tweet
swine twine
swirl twirl
switch twitch
Medial pairs
ascend attend
awesome autumn
bouncy bounty
dousing doubting
fleecing fleeting
foreseen fourteen
incense intense
lucid looted
mincer minter
nestled nettled
odyssey oddity
parsley partly
placing plating
posse potty
racing rating
rancid ranted
whistling whittling
Final pairs
ace eight
aches ached
bass bait
chance chant
coughs coughed
creeks creaked
dense dent
diverse divert
ducks duct
face fete
false fault
fleece fleet
force fort
forks forked
grease greet
grouse grout
guess get
hearse hurt
hiss hit
kiss kit
lace late
licks licked
loose lute
mass mat
mess met
mice might
milks milked
mince mint
nice night
palace pallet
parks parked
pass pat
pence pent
place plate
prince print
pus putt
race rate
rice right
riffs rift
yes yet
Practice sentences
Ask students to read these fun sentences for more S and T minimal pairs practice.
A sailor sent a tent to a tailor.
Placing tea on plating by the sea.
It is a nice night to toil the soil.
An awesome autumn for racing ratings.
It is partly parsley and rice, right?
He told her he sold mince and mint.
For more silly practice with these target sounds, check out the tongue twisters with T, and the S SH tongue twisters.
