Question

The words which differ only in one phoneme is:

• A. Syllable
• B. Stress
• C. Word accent
• D. Minimal pairs

Answer 1

Answer:

D. Minimal pairs

The words which differ only in one phoneme
➡ These are called minimal pairs.
➡ Minimal pairs are pairs of words where a single sound (phoneme) difference changes the meaning.
➡ Example:

• bat /bæt/ vs pat /pæt/ → differ only in the initial phoneme /b/ vs /p/

• ship /ʃɪp/ vs sheep /ʃiːp/ → differ only in the vowel phoneme /ɪ/ vs /iː/