Minimal Pairs: Bat vs Bet
/æ/ vs /ɛ/The vowels in "bat" and "bet" are close neighbors — and they change the meaning of many short words. Listen and choose which word you hear.
Listen to the pairs
Tap 🔊 to hear each word. Both words of a pair play in the same voice — and after you have heard both, the pair switches to a second American English voice. Tap 🌐 to see the word in your language.
In each pair: left word = /æ/ (a as in bat), right word = /ɛ/ (e as in bet).
Listening quiz
You will hear one word from each pair — choose which one you heard. Missed words come back until you get every one right.