Minimal Pairs for French Speakers
Not all French students will have exactly the same problems, but here are some of the more common ones that I've encountered with my students.
For some ideas of how to use these with students, have a look at my minimal pairs activities page.
| ɪ | i: |
| ship | sheep |
| it | eat |
| hit | heat |
| bin | bean |
| live | leave |
| - | h |
| eat | heat |
| eight | hate |
| art | heart |
| eye | high |
| old | hold |
| z | ð |
| zen | then |
| whizz | with |
| breeze | breathe |
| bays | bathe |
| close | clothe |
| -k | -g |
| pick | pig |
| duck | dug |
| back | bag |
| lock | log |
| dock | dog |
| eɪ | e |
| pain | pen |
| saint | sent |
| tail | tell |
| waste | west |
| chased | chest |
| s | θ |
| sin | thin |
| sum | thumb |
| sank | thank |
| sink | think |
| saw | thaw |
| ɔ: | əʊ |
| walk | woke |
| tore | toe |
| law | low |
| more | mow |
| pork | poke |
| -t | -d |
| heart | hard |
| plate | played |
| bet | bed |
| bought | bored |
| hurt | heard |
| æ | ʌ |
| cat | cut |
| ankle | uncle |
| ran | run |
| drank | drunk |
| match | much |
| t | θ |
| tin | thin |
| tank | thank |
| true | threw |
| tree | three |
| taught | thought |
| ʃ | tʃ |
| shoes | choose |
| sheep | cheap |
| wash | watch |
| mash | match |
| cash | catch |
When a word ends in /d/, the previous vowel sound is longer than when it ends in /t/. Students might find this easier than voicing the final /d/. The same happens with /g/ and /k/.
There are other difficulties for French speakers such as /ʒ/ and /dʒ/ (which might cause problems with words like 'joke'), or /u:/ and /ʊ/ ('fool' and 'full') but few minimal pairs exist for these. If you want to know more about difficulties which different nationalities have with English, I thoroughly recommend the book "Learner English".