Minimal Pair List Minimal pairs
The word boars (and its homophone bores ) emerges as the word which enters the greatest number of minimal pairs in the Mitton dictionary, appearing in 67 pairs belonging to 42 different lists. For amusement I have added several proper names which were not in the original list, bringing the total to 70. I realise that including two different spellings and pronunciations of a Russian beetroot soup is stretching a point, but they were both in the dictionary.
| Initial consonant | Vowel | Closing consonant | |||||
| p |
pause
paws pores pours |
i |
B's
bees |
p | - | ||
| t |
tawse
tors |
ɪ | biz | t | bought | ||
| d |
daws
doors |
e | - | d |
bawd
board bored |
||
| k |
cause
caws corps cores |
æ |
Baz
(abbr. of Basil) |
k | balk | ||
| g |
gauze
gores |
ɑ |
baas
bars |
g | Borg (tennis-player) | ||
| f | fours | ɒ |
Boz
(Pen-name of Dickens) |
f | - | ||
| v | - | ʊ | - | v | - | ||
| Ɵ | thaws | u |
boos
booze |
Ɵ | - | ||
| ð | - | ʌ | buzz | ð | - | ||
| s |
saws
soars sores |
3 | burrs | s | - | ||
| z | - | ə | - | b | - | ||
| ʃ | shores | eɪ |
baize
bays beys |
ʃ | borsch | ||
| ʒ | - | aɪ |
buys
byes |
ʒ | - | ||
| h |
haws
whores |
ɔɪ |
boys
buoys |
h | - | ||
| m | maws | əʊ |
bows
beaux |
m | - | ||
| n | gnaws | aʊ |
boughs
bows |
n |
born
borne bourne |
||
| ŋ | - | ɪə |
beers
biers |
ŋ | - | ||
| l | laws | eə |
bares
bears |
l | ball | ||
| r | roars | ʊə | boors | r | - | ||
| j | yaws | j | - | ||||
| w | wars | w | - | ||||
| ʧ |
chaws
chores |
ʧ | bortsch | ||||
| ʤ | jaws | ʤ | - | ||||
