Exercise 1: Contrasting the sounds
- Listen to the word pairs, focusing on the two different sounds.
- Then repeat, again focusing on saying the different sounds for /s/ and /θ/
| /s/ | /θ/ | |
| sink | think | |
| sick | thick | |
| sort | thought | |
| pass | path | |
| sing | thing | |
| mouse | mouth | |
| series | theories | |
| purse | Perth | |
| worse | worth | |
| force | fourth | |
| tense | tenth |
Exercise 2: Listening and distinguishing the sounds
This will help you learn to distinguish the two sounds.
- Listen to the recording.
- Choose the word you hear.
- You can listen as many times as you want.
- Click the blue > arrow on the bottom right to move to the next question.
Tongue twister
- Repeat the following tongue twister.
- Focus on the two different sounds /s/ as in sink and /θ/ as in think.
- Repeat again, trying to say the tongue twister faster and faster.
I think by the sink as the thing sings and the thunder breaks the silent night asunder.
© Paul Smit 2006-2021