Minimal Pair List Vowels 15 and 17, / ɔɪ / versus / aʊ / 39 pairs

The / ɔɪ / diphthong is spelled <oi> and <oy>. The / aʊ / diphthong is spelled <ow> or <ou>.

This is a contrast between two diphthongs with different starting positions and different directions of movement. It is not a problem for learners.

The density figure is 4.97%. The set makes 20 semantic contrasts giving a loading of 51.3%.

alloy allow 
  alloyed allowed 
  alloying allowing 
  alloys allows 
avoid avowed
boy bough 
  boys boughs 
boy bow
  boys bows
buoy bough
  buoy boughs
buoy bow  
  buoyed bowed 
  buoying bowing 
  buoys bows
cloyed cloud 
coil cowl
  coiling cowling
  coils cowls
  coiled cowled
coir cower
coy cow 
foil foul
  foiled fouled
  foiling fouling
  foils fouls
groined ground
joist joust
  joists jousts
moist moused
oil owl
  oils owls
ploy plough 
  ploys ploughs 
Roy row
royal rowel 
  royals rowels 
soy sow 
void vowed

John Higgins

John Higgins retired in 2000, having spent the bulk of his career as a British Council English Language Officer working in Thailand, Turkey, Egypt and Yugoslavia and the last fifteen years in lectureships at Bristol University and then running an M.Sc. programme at Stirling University. His main field was EFL, with a special interest in CALL (computer-assisted language learning) in which, together with Tim Johns of Birmingham, he was responsible for important developments in methods and materials. His publications include A Guide to Language Laboratory Material Writing, Universitetesforlaget, 1969, Computers and Language Learning, Collins, 1984, Language Learners and Computers, Longman, 1988, and Computers in English Language Learning, Intellect Press, 1992, together with numerous papers, reviews and pieces of software. He maintains a web page on minimal pairs and homographs for teachers of English pronunciation skills.