lack · luck The difference in meaning and sound
What they mean
Lack means not having enough of something: "a lack of sleep", "she lacks experience". Luck is chance, good or bad: "good luck", "just my luck", "we were lucky".
这些都是 App 里的真实音频，请打开声音。
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 k at the end cuts both vowels short, so length helps less here than in pairs like bag and bug. Listen to the color instead: lack is bright and flat, with a touch of the e in bet, and luck is a dull, short "uh".
In British voices, the a of lack is more open and drifts toward the u of luck, which makes those voices the hardest test. Get the American voices right first.
研究： Lambacher et al. 2002 · Lambacher et al. 2005 · Nishi & Kewley-Port 2007
æ（hat）宽而明亮，ʌ（hut）短而放松。
More word pairs with these sounds
听辨 hat 和 hut: 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.
现在就开始，听出差别。
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