Minimal pairs: short vs long vowels

Note: this is an alternative for the interactive exercise with the same name in the FutureLearn course English Pronunciation in a Global World, which is preferred but requires javascript.

Listen to the words by clicking on them and then pronounce them yourself.

/ʊ/ vs /uː/

/ʊ/ (short)	/uː/ (long)
book	boo!
foot	food
full	fool
look	Luke
pull	pool
soot	suit

Play	The cook took a good look at the pudding and put sugar in it.
Play	Tuesday’s too soon to move the new music stool into the school.

/ɪ/ vs /iː/

/ɪ/ (short)	/iː/ (long)
ship	sheep
bin	bean
fit	feet
grin	green
hit	heat
ill	eal
live	leave
mill	meal
rich	reach
sick	seek

Play	Fit six thin bricks into this big tin lid.
Play	We need tea for three, please, for Jean, Steve and me.

/ɒ/ vs /ɔː/

/ɒ/ (short)	/ɔː/ (long)
cot	caught
collar	caller
Don	dawn
knotty	naughty
not	nought
nod	gnawed
offal	awful
shone	Shawn
stock	stalk
spot	sport

Play	The socks that the shop had got in stock were not what I wanted.
Play	George ought to draw up a short report on this morning’s talk.

Note 1: American English speakers may pronounce [ɑ] instead of [ɒ]. Therefore, the vowel will not only differ in length from [ɔː], but also in quality; e.g. [ɑ] is unrounded instead of rounded.
Note 2: Only non-rhotic speakers pronounce a long [ɔː] vowel in sport because they do not pronounce /r/.