This pair is often a problem for speakers of many languages, including Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Arabic. It is important to first learn to distinguish the two sounds, which may not exist in your first language.
© Paul Smit 2006-2021
Exercise 1: Listen to the word pairs and repeat.
| /æ/ | /ʌ/ | |
|---|---|---|
| cap | cup | |
| bat | but | |
| hat | hut | |
| flatter | flutter | |
| batter | butter | |
| bank | bunk | |
| ankle | uncle | |
| paddle | puddle | |
| drank | drunk |
Exercise 2: Test your listening
- Click the play button to listen. You can listen as many times as you want.
- Choose the word you heard.
- Click the blue arrow on the bottom right to move to the next question.
The spellings of /ʌ/ and /æ/
Exercise 3: The spellings of /ʌ/
- You will first see a number of questions with line of words and will need to click on any words that do not contain the /ʌ/ sound.
- There may be more than one word in each line to click on.
Exercise 4: The spellings of /æ/
- You will first see a number of questions with line of words and will need to click on any words that do not contain the /æ/ sound.
- There may be more than one word in each line to click on.
Telephone pair game: /ʌ/ versus /æ/
You can play this game alone or in teams with other learners.
- If playing in teams, read the “Instructions for teachers” below.
- If playing alone, read the instructions in the slides.
- Use the right and left arrows to move between slides.
© Paul Smit 2006-2021