staff · stuff The difference in meaning and sound
What they mean
Staff means the people who work for an organization: "hotel staff", "a staff meeting". Stuff means things or material in general: "put your stuff here", "I have a lot of stuff to do."
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- American woman, younger
- American woman, older
- American man, younger
- American man, older
What's different
Both words start with st and end in a voiceless f, which keeps the vowel short. That leaves only its quality: staff opens wide, with a trace of e, and stuff stays in the middle of the mouth, short and dull.
In British English, staff takes the long ɑː of father, /stɑːf/, so the pair contrasts a different vowel there. That's why this page, like the app, plays it in American voices only.
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
Hearing hat and hut apart: all 18 pairs →This collection is free in the app
In the TellApart app, all 18 pairs in this collection are free to practice, with no purchase.
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