VOWELS

1. Beat bit 2. Pete pet

Eat it beat bet
Deed did feed fed
Heap hip beet bet
Sheep ship seed said
Heat hit heed head

3. seal sill sell 4. Test taste

Seat sit set bet bait
Neat knit net wet wait
Bean bin Ben X aches
Feel fill fell pepper paper
Bead bid bed pen pain

5. seal sail 6. Seal sill sell sail

Reek rake heal hill hell hail
Weed wade feet fit fete fate
Heel hale beat bit bet bait
Meal mail peal pill pell-mell pail
Feel fail skeetskit sketch skate

7. cot cat 8. Pot put

Mop map cop cup
Odd add hot hut
Cop cap shot shut
Hot hat pop pup
Pot pat chock chuck

9. cot cat cut 10. Bed bird

Hot hat hut head herd
Cop cap cup best burst
Not gnat nut mess mirth
Pot pat put fest first
Don dan done chess church
11. bed bird bud
Head heard hut
Best burst bust
Chest church chuck
Bet brr….. but
Wetwere want

12. put sofa 13. boot but 14. Suit soot

Fun father cool cull cooled could
Bus sugar pool put who’d hood
Must mother hoot hut shooed should
Mut muter root rut stewed stood
What water moot mut wooed would

15. tot taught tote tut

Chock chalk choke chuck
Nod gnawed node nut
Botch bought boat but

16. cooed could code cawed

Shooed should sowed sawed
Too took toe talk
Coo cook coke caught

17. high hah he hey

Pie pa pea pay
Height hot heat hate
Side sod seed say
Light lot lean late

Bite pot beat bait

18. mouse mice moss mace

Bout bite bought bait
Louse lice loss lace
Down dine dawn deign
Fowl file fall fail
Brown brine brawn brain
Practice Materials for Vowel Contrast

Contrasting monophthongs (simple vowels)

Monophthongs
[i:], [i], [e], [æ], [a:], [o:], [o], [u:], [yu:], [u], [ər], [ə]
bean – bin – Ben – ban – bar – born – bond – boom – beauty – book – burn – bun;
peat – pit – pet – pat – part – port – pot – pool – pew – put – purr – pus;

Contrasting monophthongs in pairs

[i:] – [i]
lead – lid, read – rid, feel – fill, deal – dill, heel – hill, team – Tim, keen – kin, seen – sin,
teen – tin, leave – live;
peak – pick, seek – sick; sheep – ship, heap – hip, leap – lip, beat – bit, feet – fit, seat –
sit;
[i:] – [i]: eat fish, be sick, feel ill, see him, meet Bill, deal with, read this, beat it; [i] –
[i:]: kiss me, lip cream, till three;

[i] – [e]
bill – bell, fill – fell, till – tell, him – hem, pin – pen, tin – ten, win – when, bid – bed, did –
dead, Liz – Les, since – sense;
pit – pet, sit – set, Nick – neck, pick – peck, miss – mess, wrist – rest, lift – left;
[i] – [e]: Big Ben, six guests, live well, since then; [e] – [i]: tell Tim, test him;

[e] – [æ]
bed – bad, said – sad, beg – bag, leg – lag, hell – Hal, hem – ham;
Ben – ban, pen – pan, den – Dan, ten – tan, men – man; bend – band, lend – land, send –
sand;
bet – bat, met – mat, pet – pat, set – sat, mess – mass, wreck – rack, peck – pack, letter
– latter, better – batter;
[e] – [æ]: red bag, fell back, met Alice, pen pal; [æ] – [e]: Ann said, bad pen, add ten,
marry Mary;

[æ] – [a:]
bad – bard, lad – lard, Pam – palm, cam – calm, carry – car, Barry – bar;
cat – cart, hat – heart, mat – mart, pat – part, cap – carp, back – bark, pack – park,
[æ] – [a:]: Dan's father, last part, fast cars; [a:] – [æ]: smart Alex, hard candy, Karl's
cat;

[æ] – [ə]
fan – fun, ran – run, sang – sung, land – lung, Dan – done, man – month, frank – front,
Sam – some, ram – rum, damp – dump, bag – bug, rag – rug;
cat – cut, bat – but, hat – hut, fat – fuss, last – lust, task – tusk, back – buck, lack – luck,
tack – tuck, stack – stuck;
[æ] – [ə]: bad cut, bad blood, bad luck, black gun, last month, Ann's mother; [ə] – [æ]:
some tan, one man, a bag, a hat;

[a:] – [o:]
far – four, car – core, tar – tore, star – store, card – cord, bard – board, barn – born;
park – pork, stark – stork, part – port, cart – court, Marty – Morty,
[a:] – [o:]: carport, Bart bought, hard core; [o:] – [a:]: four cars, ball park, small yard;

[a:] – [ə]
barn – bun, calm – come, drama – drum, march – much, darn – done, far – sofa, father –
mother;
bark – buck, dark – duck, lark – luck, tar – tuck, stark – stuck, heart – hut,

[a:] – [ər]
hard – heard, card – curd, far – fur, farm – firm, barn – burn, large – splurge, charge –
church;
heart – hurt, cart – Curt, dark – dirt, lark – lurk, park – perk, carton – curtain,

[o:] – [ər]
call – curl, hall – hurl, all – earl, Paul – pearl, saw – sir, lawn – learn;
war – were, ward – word, warm – worm, reward – reword, walk – work, wart – worth;
four – fir, sore – sir, store – stir, core – occur, pour – purr;
born – burn, torn – turn, form – firm, board – bird, cord – curd,
course – curse, caught – curt, short – shirt, talk – Turk;
[o:] – [ər]: warm words, four birds, call Kurt; [ər] – [o:]: first floor, third door, learn all;

[o] – [ə]
bomb – bum, rob – rub, college – color, common – come, comma – company, body –
buddy, bother – brother;
gone – done, nonsense – none, honor – honey, monitor – money, monument – Monday,
fond – front, tongs – tongue, sponsor – sponge;
conference – confess, continent – contain, content (n.) – content (adj.) , contract (n.) –
contract (v.), contrary – control, policy – police;
lock – luck, sock – suck, cop – cup, hot – hut, not – nut, cloth – nothing, bottle – butter,
bottom – button;

[u:] – [yu:]
food – feud, fool – fume, cool – cute, who – hue, ooze – use, moose – muse, boot –
beauty;

[u:] – [u]
fool – full, pool – pull, womb – woman, food – foot, Luke – look, tooth – took, shoot –
should;

[u] – [o]
cook – cock, look – lock, rook – rock, took – stock, put – pot, good – god;
[u] – [ə]
book – buck, look – luck, took – tuck, put – but, push – hush, full – dull, pull – hull;
The sounds [ə] (but) and [ər] (bird)

[ə] – [ər]
bud – bird, cub – curb, bun – burn, ton – turn, fun – fern, soda – coder;
luck – lurk, shut – shirt, but – Bert, hut – hurt, such – search, bust – burst, sofa – suffer,
quota – quarter;

stressed [ə] – unstressed [ə]

son – lesson, some – awesome, muss – famous, numb – venom, thud – method,

stressed [ər] – unstressed [ər]

fur – offer, refer – suffer, sir – answer, purr – helper, burn – stubborn, turn – lantern;
CONSONANTS

19. peel deep spit

Pit pep spray
Pause slope suppose
Pile droop sprout
Peer ripe sprite
Poise sharp sprint
Punt tape special

20. teach bit stall

Top bet stain
Ton that stairs
Tear goat stint
Terse sort steak
Take rate steam

21. cage pick skate

Kept trek ski
Cash pack scout
Coat truck skill
Cow poke scorch
Care spook skin
Combat hike scorn

22. big web brown

Bale cab bright
Buter rob blight
Beter cube blister
Both cub bliss
Boom bribe brawn
Buy babe britle

23. deep plead drown

Day bled dread
Dash odd dream
Dawn flood drone
Doom void dreadful
Dine hard drop
Den herd drip
24. pole foal bowl volt
Poke folk base vase
Pun fun bun van
Peer fear beer veer
Pour four boar vortex
Pull full bull vulgar
Pill fill bill villa

25. ‘tis thin dish this

Tank thank Dan than
Tree three dream then
Torn thorn drone thou
Tif thief drif there
Toe thaw draw thy
Taught thought draught that
F - fine, find, four, face, fall, friend, Philippines, efect, perfect, fify, difficult, fifeen, define, half, life , proof,
Of, safe, laugh, tough

V - very, vote, value, vital, visit, vivid, vase, favor, seven, never, over, river, advice, convince, love, live, give
drive, believe, receive

Sh - she, shall, share, show, sharp, champagne, sure, fashion, cushion, election, vacation, delicious, conscious,
English, Spanish, brush, dish, fish, crash, crush

Ch - chair, chapter, chief, channel, challenge, champion, teacher, preacher, virtue, creature, actual, feature,
Speech, teach, march, French, much, rich, reach, such

J - job, join, joke, june, gentle, genius, general, jewel, enjoy, magic, subject, ,angel, major, individual, large
Image, edge, pledge, college, change, verge

Sof Th - three, thirsty, think, thank, thing, Thursday, theme, nothing, birthday, mathematics, method, author
Athlete, bath, south, youth, mouth, teeth, month, strength

Hard th - this, then, therefore, thus, they, though, the, their, these, father, mother, rather, other, either, further
Bother, with, breathe, loathe, clothe, bathe, soothe

Z - zero, zebra, zoo, zipper, zap, zeal, zealot, zinc, freeze, breeze, blaze, analyze, criticize, varbalize, heroism,
Journalism, plagiarism, egoism, lionize

(S ending) - Boys. Girls, schools, does. Is, please, because, wise, choose, lose, use, abuse, propose
Short a - Ma’am, man, map, cap, blank, fact, add, subtract,
Bad, sad, land, cash, lamp, lack, math, pass
Last, fast, ask, answer, thank, that, lab
Land, cash, track, catch, grammar, gather, lack
Transfer, faculty, gland, exam, example, actually
Finance, balance, absent, practice, personality, canteen
Married, guarantee, satisfies, sandwich, salad, practical
Anchor, language, Spanish, program, channel, Saturday
Anthem, graduate, preliminary, applicant, status, parents
Talent, accident, character, personality, capital, mater,
happen, Master, manager, standard, value, analyze,
analysis, national

Mum-mom-ma’am rung-rang fun-fan

Hut- hot-hat sung-sang pot-pat
Cup-cop-cap drunk-drank rock-rack
Luck-lock-lack drug-drag cough-calf
Stuck-stock-sack flush-flash pus-pass
Mud-mod-mad bug-bag ton-tan
Stump-stomp-stamp block-black adopt-adapt

Long i - seat, bee, see, speak, read, teach, eat, leave, she
Each, even, fever, believe, receive, meet leap, teeth,
breathe, Deal, free, cheese, easy, field, please, repeat,
least, feel
Short i – in, this, fill, fit, ship, live, sit, slip, chip
Lady, baby, ready, Miss, mister, women, many, critic
Captain, mountain, fountain, certain, curtain
Language, village, advantage, sausage, college,
knowledge, Senate, climate, graduate, immediate

Live – leave fit- feet hill – heal

Still – steal sit – seat sick – seek
Itch – each grin – green hit – heat
Bit – beat pitch – peach hill – heel
Fill – feel bitch – beach ship – sheep

Closed o - no, so, also, zero, radio, video, stereo

colon, moto, potato, though, solo, vocal, local, going
know, show, slow, grow, follow, tomorrow
only, omit, over, open, okay, old, cold, bold, told
notice, vocabulary, pronunciation, October, November,
moment

Open o - law, saw, lawn, pawn, thaw, dawn

daughter, author, audit, laudable, bought, taught
water, warm, warning, war, bald, broad
Leter o - [a]
Hot, God, mop, office, orator, progress, object,
opposite, body, operator, comment, Congress, contest,
botom, color, common, logic, sorry, apologize, dollar,
foreign, sponsor, philosophy, sociology, biology,
economics, doctor, orange, scholar, comfort, October,
comma, double

Short u - but, cup, cut, culture, fundamental,

Wonder, color, flood, blood, tongue, love, money,
young, closet, gloves, Mother, sun, son, done, one,
won, once, oven, word, work, world, worm, worst,
worse, bird, third, girl, circle, virgin, birth, thirst