Pronunciation tool

Pronunciation — minimal pairs & sound fixes

Pronunciation is one of the four IELTS Speaking criteria. Five small sound fixes can lift your score noticeably — examiners notice clarity, not accent.

IELTSTOEFL

Interactive practice lab

Turn Pronunciation — minimal pairs & sound fixes into active practice.

Short activities built directly from this pronunciation tool. Drag, decide, match, and recall until the language becomes usable.

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Quick decision

Match the pairs

Connect each sound a with the correct sound b.

Round 1/4

/iː/ (sheep) — choose the matching sound b.

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Reference library

Study the examples, then replay the activity.

Use the full reference below when an answer in the practice lab feels uncertain.

High-impact minimal pairs

Sound A	Sound B	Examples
/iː/ (sheep)	/ɪ/ (ship)	sheep–ship, leave–live, beat–bit
/v/	/w/	vest–west, vine–wine, veil–whale
/θ/ (think)	/s/	think–sink, thick–sick, theme–seem
/r/	/l/	right–light, road–load, fry–fly
/æ/ (cat)	/e/ (bed)	bad–bed, sat–set, man–men
/p/	/b/	pat–bat, peach–beach, pig–big

Word stress patterns to drill

Two-syllable nouns usually stress syllable 1: REcord, PREsent.
Two-syllable verbs usually stress syllable 2: reCORD, preSENT.
Words ending -tion / -sion: stress is on the syllable BEFORE: educAtion, deCIsion.
Words ending -ity: stress is on the syllable BEFORE: opporTUnity, posSIbility.

Sentence stress — what natives stress

Content words (nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs) — STRESSED.
Function words (articles, prepositions, auxiliaries) — UNSTRESSED.
Stressing function words sounds robotic. Practice de-stressing them.

Daily 5-minute drill

Pick one minimal pair. Say each word 10 times slowly, exaggerating the difference.
Read 3 sentences each containing one word from the pair.
Record yourself. Listen for the difference. Adjust.

Editorial details and primary sources

By FluentMock Editorial Team · Published 2026-06-13 · Updated 2026-06-28 · Official sources checked

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