Met - Mate is an example of which phonetic concept used to teach vowel contrasts?

• A. Homonym
• B. Minimal pair
• C. Homophone
• D. Paronym

Answer: (B)

Minimal pairs are two words that differ by only one sound, and they’re used to show how changing a single vowel sound changes meaning. Met and mate share the same consonants and differ just in the vowel. Met uses a short, mid-front vowel, while mate uses a longer vowel that glides toward a, so swapping that vowel sound creates a different word. This is exactly how learners notice and practice vowel contrasts, making it a classic example of a minimal pair in vowel teaching. Other terms describe different word relations (like words that sound alike but have different spellings or meanings, or look-alike words with similar forms) and aren’t about illustrating a single-phoneme vowel contrast.