Photo by the Royal Navy, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain. Source

Two cats in a gun barrel aboard HMS Hawkins.

About this picture …

No mouse in that mouth... whatever was in that gun’s gone. Two cats catch nothing nosing about in the barrel of a 7.5 inch gun aboard HMS Hawkins, shortly after the Great War.

Pronunciation Pairs

Read out aloud each pair of words below, making the difference in pronunciation clear but not over-exaggerated. Can you think of more pairs of words that differ in the same way?

Note: A small number of these pairs are not strictly minimal pairs. Accent may affect the pairs.

Group A

1. Coarse. Cause.

2. Sip. Zip.

3. Pace. Pays.

4. Price. Prize.

5. Face. Phase.

More words

Brace, Braise. Race, Raise.

Group B

1. Nap. Snap.

2. Knees. Sneeze.

3. No. Snow.

More words

Nought, Snort. Nail, Snail.

Group C

1. Rain. Train.

2. Rick. Trick.

3. Rack. Track.

4. Rim. Trim.

More words

Ray, Tray. Rash, Trash.

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