Real clips from the app. Turn your sound on.
Hear both words in 10 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 woman, older
- 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
The long "ow" glide is the same in both, so wait for the last sound. Mouse ends on a hiss you could hear across a room: high, sharp and steady. Mouth ends on a faint, flat breath through the teeth, which fades almost as soon as it starts.
Because th is so quiet, mouth can seem to stop at the vowel, or end in something like f. If you hear a clear hiss, it's mouse; anything softer is mouth. Watching helps too: in mouth, the tongue tip often shows between the teeth.
Studies: Thomson 2018
TH is a soft, flat breath. S is a sharp hiss.
More word pairs with these sounds
Hearing TH (think) and S apart: all 15 pairs →Start hearing the difference.
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