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← 聽辨 hat 和 hut
Word pair

hang · hung The difference in meaning and sound

What they mean

Hang is the present tense: you hang a picture or a coat. Hung is its past tense and past participle: "I hung it up yesterday," "It has hung there for years." Only when hang means to execute someone is the past hanged.

hang · hung7/20
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hang
US IPA: /hæŋ/
hung
US IPA: /hʌŋ/
Speed
  • 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

Both words end in ng, and that ending changes the vowel in front of it. Many American voices raise æ before ng, so hang comes out close to "heyng", with a hint of the e in bet. Hung keeps its short, central "uh" all the way into the ng.

British voices don't raise it, so their hang is a plain, open a. Start with the American voices, then try the British ones: the gap is smaller there, but hang is still the longer word.

研究: Lambacher et al. 2002 · Lambacher et al. 2005 · Nishi & Kewley-Port 2007

聽辨重點

æ(hat)寬而明亮,ʌ(hut)短而放鬆。

More word pairs with these sounds

聽辨 hat 和 hut: all 18 pairs →

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