Minimal Pairs /æ/ and /ʌ/

bat and but


/æ/ and /ʌ/ are the two closest vowel sounds in English and so it is very difficult to hear and pronounce the difference. In fact, in some American accents there is no distinction between the two. It is still worth language learners working on the difference between them, however, as there are many words that vary only by this sound.
Elementary

• bad - bud*
• bank - bunk*
• bat - but
• batter - butter
• brash* - brush
• cam* - come
• cap - cup
• cat - cut
• dad - dud*
• hat - hut*
• match - much

Pre-Intermediate

• badge - budge*
• banker - bunker*
• began - begun
• crash - crush*
• dabble* - double
• drank - drunk
• fan - fun
• hag* - hug
• mad - mud*
• massed* - must
• pack - puck*
• pan - pun*
• ran - run
• sang - sung
• stand - stunned*
• swam - swum
• tang* - tongue
• wan* - won

Intermediate

• ankle - uncle
• back - buck
• bag - bug
• ban - bun
• bang - bung*
• cab - cub*
• dram* - drum
• flash - flush*
• gnat* - nut
• ham - hum
• hang - hung
• rang - rung
• rash - rush
• sack - suck
• sand - sunned*
• sax - sucks
• slang - slung*
• track - truck

Upper-Intermediate

• cram - crumb
• dam - dumb
• damp - dump
• fanned - fund
• grab - grub*
• jag* - jug
• mat - mutt*
• paddle - puddle
• pat - putt
• rag - rug
• sank - sunk
• sapper* - supper
• scam - scum
• slam - slum
• stack - stuck
• stank - stunk
• tag - tug
• tramps - trumps

Advanced

• blabber - blubber
• champ - chump
• dab - dub
• dank - dunk
• flank - flunk
• flax - flux
• gash - gush
• glam - glum
• hanker - hunker
• hash - hush
• hatch - hutch
• lag - lug
• pap - pup
• patter - putter
• rabble - rubble
• ram - rum
• sally - sully
• sap - sup
• scram - scrum
• shacks - shucks
• slag - slug
• slash - slush
• slat - slut
• stab - stub
• tab - tub
• tack - tuck
• tat - tut
• thrash - thrush

* the meaning of the word is not important at this level, but it can still be used to contrast the pronunciation with the other word.