Minimal Pairs

Have you heard of Minimal Pairs? A minimal word pair consists of two words that vary by only a single sound. For example, contacalculation Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Feminine and contotale Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Masculine – the only difference is in the final sound (the vowel sounds represented by a and o). Practicing with Portuguese minimal pairs is a great way to perfect your pronunciation and comprehension because it teaches you to hear the subtle differences between similar sounding words. As you’ll see in the examples below, even a tiny change in pronunciation means you could be saying something much different from what you intend to say!
While we’re at it, let’s also make a distinction between minimal pairs, homophones, and homographs.

• Homophones are words with the same exact pronunciation but different meanings
• Minimal pairs are words that have the same pronunciation except for only a single sound, also known as a fonema (phoneme). That single sound difference is the only thing that lets you know they are two different words – they are minimally different.
• Homographs are words that are written the same exact way but pronounced differently. Some minimal pairs can also be homographs but that’s not the norm.

Let’s dive into some Portuguese minimal pairs!

Open vs. Closed Vowels

à Slow audio Play audio Preposition, Contractions, Singular, Feminine vs. a Slow audio Play audio Preposition

• • • dágive Slow audio Play audio Conjugated Verbs daof the Slow audio Play audio Preposition, Contractions, Singular, Feminine
    • àsto the Slow audio Play audio Preposition, Contractions, Plural, Feminine asthe Slow audio Play audio Article, Plural, Feminine
    • para - parastop - to Slow audio Play audio
    • falámoswe spoke Slow audio Play audio Conjugated Verbs falamoswe speak Slow audio Play audio Conjugated Verbs

é Slow audio Play audio Verb vs. ê

• • • sécathedral Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Feminine sêbe Slow audio Play audio Conjugated Verbs
    • erro - erroI make mistakes - mistake Slow audio Play audio
    • sede - sedeheadquarters - thirst Slow audio Play audio
    • céusky Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Masculine seuyours Slow audio Play audio Determiner, Masculine

ó Slow audio Play audio Sounds vs. ô

• • • sóalone Slow audio Play audio Adverb souI am Slow audio Play audio Conjugated Verbs
    • olho - olhoI look - eye Slow audio Play audio
    • póspost Slow audio Play audio pôsput Slow audio Play audio Conjugated Verbs
    • avógrandmother Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Feminine avôgrandfather Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Masculine

Oral Vowels vs. Nasal Vowels

a Slow audio Play audio Preposition vs. an Slow audio Play audio Sounds

• • • casadomarried Slow audio Play audio Adjective / Past Participle, Singular, Masculine cansadotired Slow audio Play audio Adjective / Past Participle, Singular, Masculine
    • seiI know Slow audio Play audio Conjugated Verbs semwithout Slow audio Play audio Conjunction

a Slow audio Play audio Preposition vs. ã

• • • manhaslyness Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Feminine manhãmorning Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Feminine
    • campanhacampaign Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Feminine CampanhãPortuguese parish Slow audio Play audio Proper Noun, Singular

é Slow audio Play audio Verb /ê vs. en

• • • metagoal Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Feminine mentamint Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Feminine
    • pesoweight Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Masculine pensobandage Slow audio Play audio Conjugated Verbs
    • cedoearly Slow audio Play audio Adverb sendobeing Slow audio Play audio Conjugated Verbs
    • violetaviolet Slow audio Play audio Adjective, Singular, Feminine violentaviolent Slow audio Play audio Adjective, Singular, Feminine

í vs. in

• • • si(pronoun) Slow audio Play audio Pronoun, Singular simyes Slow audio Play audio Adverb
    • ficastay Slow audio Play audio Conjugated Verbs fincastick Slow audio Play audio Conjugated Verbs
    • vidalife Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Feminine vindaarrival Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Feminine
    • lidoread Slow audio Play audio Adjective / Past Participle, Masculine lindobeautiful Slow audio Play audio Adjective, Masculine

ô vs. on

• • • souI am Slow audio Play audio Conjugated Verbs somsound Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Masculine
    • coxathigh Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Feminine conchaladle Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Feminine
    • rouborobbery Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Masculine rombobreach Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Masculine
    • poissince Slow audio Play audio Conjunction põesyou put Slow audio Play audio Conjugated Verbs

u Slow audio Play audio Sounds vs. un Slow audio Play audio Sounds

• • • othe Slow audio Play audio Article, Singular, Masculine umone Slow audio Play audio Number
    • fugaescape Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Feminine fungasniffle Slow audio Play audio Conjugated Verbs
    • tubatuba Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Feminine tumbatomb Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Feminine
    • mudomute Slow audio Play audio Adjective, Singular, Masculine mundoworld Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Masculine

Nasal Vowels vs. Nasal Vowels

en vs. an Slow audio Play audio Sounds

• • • entroI enter Slow audio Play audio Conjugated Verbs antroden Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Masculine
    • tentoI try Slow audio Play audio Conjugated Verbs tantoso much Slow audio Play audio Quantifiers

on vs. un Slow audio Play audio Sounds

• • • pombadove Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Feminine pumba(interjection) Slow audio Play audio Interjection

Reduced Vowels

A reduced vowel is another name for a weak sounding vowel. The examples below are not pairs but trios that only sound different because of the reduced vowel.

• • • daof (female) Slow audio Play audio Preposition, Contractions, Singular, Feminine deof Slow audio Play audio Preposition doof (male) Slow audio Play audio Preposition
    • falaspeaks Slow audio Play audio Conjugated Verbs falespeak (formal) Slow audio Play audio Conjugated Verbs faloI speak Slow audio Play audio Conjugated Verbs
    • façado (formal) Slow audio Play audio Conjugated Verbs faceregarding Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Feminine façoI do Slow audio Play audio Conjugated Verbs
    • saltajumps Slow audio Play audio Conjugated Verbs saltejump (formal) Slow audio Play audio Conjugated Verbs saltojump (noun) Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Masculine
    • riscasstripes Slow audio Play audio Noun, Plural, Feminine risquesscratch (verb) Slow audio Play audio Conjugated Verbs riscosscratches Slow audio Play audio Noun, Plural, Masculine

Consonants

Now we’ll move on to some Portuguese minimal pairs that let us distinguish between similar consonant sounds.

n vs. nh

• • • manasis (from 'sister') Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Feminine manhaslyness Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Feminine
    • sonosleep Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Masculine sonhodream Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Masculine
    • tinabowl Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Feminine tinhahad Slow audio Play audio Conjugated Verbs
    • HispâniaHispania (Roman province) Slow audio Play audio Adjective, Singular, Masculine EspanhaSpain Slow audio Play audio Proper Noun, Singular, Feminine
    • Tânia(person's name) Slow audio Play audio Proper Noun, Singular tenhahave (formal) Slow audio Play audio Conjugated Verbs

ss / ç vs. z

• • • caçoI hunt Slow audio Play audio Conjugated Verbs casocase Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Masculine
    • assarroast Slow audio Play audio Verb azarbad luck Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Masculine
    • ouçalisten Slow audio Play audio Conjugated Verbs ousadare Slow audio Play audio Conjugated Verbs

x vs. j

• • • rixafight Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Feminine rijatough Slow audio Play audio Adjective, Feminine
    • achathinks Slow audio Play audio Conjugated Verbs hajathere is Slow audio Play audio Conjugated Verbs
    • chatoboring Slow audio Play audio Adjective, Singular, Masculine jatojet Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Masculine
    • queixochin Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Masculine queijocheese Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Masculine

l vs. lh

• • • faloI speak Slow audio Play audio Conjugated Verbs falhoI miss Slow audio Play audio Conjugated Verbs
    • rolaturtle-dove Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Feminine rolhacork Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Feminine
    • malasuitcase Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Feminine malhamesh Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Feminine
    • velacandle Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Feminine velhaold (female) Slow audio Play audio Adjective, Singular, Feminine
    • Júlio(name) Slow audio Play audio Proper Noun, Singular julhoJuly Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Masculine
    • gálio gallium galhotwig Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Masculine

v vs. f

• • • vacacow Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Feminine facaknife Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Feminine
    • varinhawand Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Feminine farinhaflour Slow audio Play audio Noun, Singular, Feminine