Real clips from the app. Turn your sound on.
Hear both words in 9 voices
Each row is one speaker saying both words. Play one, then the other, and switch to slow when the difference hides.
- American woman, younger
- American man, younger
- American man, older
- British woman, younger
- British woman, older
- British man, younger
- British man, older
- Australian woman
- Australian man
What's different
Japanese often writes æ after k as キャ, as in cat, camp and cap, because the vowel is made so far forward that the k seems to slide into it through a quick y. Cup has no such slide: its k leads straight into a short, central "uh".
Both words end in a quick p, so the vowel is nearly all you get, and æ is the longer of the two. In British voices both vowels are more open and closer together, so listen for brightness rather than for the kya: cap is front and bright, cup sits darker in the middle of the mouth.
Studies: Lambacher et al. 2002 · Lambacher et al. 2005 · Nishi & Kewley-Port 2007
æ (hat) is wide and bright. ʌ (hut) is short and relaxed.
More word pairs with these sounds
- hang · hung
- staff · stuff
- crash · crush
- fan · fun
- track · truck
- sang · sung
- ran · run
- lack · luck
- ankle · uncle
- batter · butter
This collection is free in the app
In the TellApart app, all 18 pairs in this collection are free to practice, with no purchase.
Start hearing the difference.
Free to download, with one purchase to unlock everything. No subscription.