Alphabet Homophones and Minimal Pairs

The alphabet homophones and minimal pairs

Without looking below for now, listen to your teacher and raise the “The same” card or “Different” card that you have been given depending on what you think about the pronunciation of the letters and words that you hear.

Label each line below with S for the same pronunciation or D for different pronunciation. If there are more than two, they are all the same or all different.

1. A/ E
2. B/ be/ bee
3. B/ V
4. C/ sea/ see
5. C/ she
6. D/ day
7. D/ G
8. G/ J
9. G/ Z
10. H/ etch
11. H/ hay
12. I/ eye
13. K/ key
14. L/ hell
15. M/ me
16. M/ N
17. O/ oh/ owe
18. O/ or
19. P/ pay
20. P/ pea/ pee
21. Q/ coup
22. Q/ cue/ queue
23. R/ ah
24. S/ see
25. T/ tea/ tee
26. U/ ewe/ yew/ you
27. V/ buoy
28. W/ double
29. W/ UU
30. X/ ex
31. Y/ why

Check your answers as a class or with the next page, then work together to make sure you can pronounce the ones which are different above differently.

Choose words or letters from above and dictate them to your partner. If what you say could be written more than one way, they should write both the possibilities/ all the possibilities.

Do the same, but this time in context in a whole phrase or sentence.

 

Suggested answers

1. A/ E – Different
2. B/ be/ bee – The same
3. B/ V – Different
4. C/ sea/ see – The same
5. C/ she – Different
6. D/ day – Different
7. D/ G – Different
8. G/ J – Different
9. G/ Z – Different
10. H/ etch – Different
11. H/ hay – Different
12. I/ eye – The same
13. K/ key – Different
14. L/ hell – Different
15. M/ me – Different
16. M/ N – Different
17. O/ oh/ owe – The same
18. O/ or – Different
19. P/ pay – Different
20. P/ pea/ pee – The same
21. Q/ coup – Different
22. Q/ cue/ queue – The same
23. R/ ah – The same (in most kinds of British English)
24. S/ see – Different
25. T/ tea/ tee – The same
26. U/ ewe/ yew/ you – The same
27. V/ buoy – Different
28. W/ double – Different
29. W/ UU – Slightly different/ Almost the same (only the stress is different)
30. X/ ex – The same
31. Y/ why – The same

 

Cards for students to hold up

The same	Different
The same	Different
The same	Different
The same	Different
The same	Different
The same	Different
The same	Different

 

Words pronounced the same as letters easier stage

Without looking above, write letters which have the same pronunciation as these words in the gaps below:

• be/ bee/ _________________
• sea/ see/ ________________
• eye/ ____________________
• oh/ owe/ ________________
• pea/ pee/ _______________
• cue/ queue/ _____________
• ah/ ____________________
• tea/ tee/ ________________
• ewe/ yew/ you/ ___________
• ex/ _____________________
• why/ ____________________

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Words pronounced the same as letters more challenging stage

Without looking above, write words which match the letters below for pronunciation in the gaps given.

• B/ __________________/ __________________
• C/ __________________/ __________________
• I/___________________
• O/ _________________/ ___________________
• P/ _________________/ ___________________
• Q/ _________________/ ___________________
• R/ _________________
• U/ _________________/ ___________________/ _________________
• X/ _________________
• Y/ _________________