In phonology, minimal pairs are pairs of words or phrases in a particular language, spoken or signed, that differ in only one phonological element, such as a phoneme, toneme or chroneme, and have distinct meanings. They are used to demonstrate that two phones are two separate phonemes in the language.

What is minimal pair give an example?

A minimal pair or close pair consists of two words with sounds that are very similar but have different meanings. For example, rot and lot may sound similar, especially to some non-native English speakers.

How do you identify a minimal pair?

Minimal pairs. A minimal pair is a pair of words with ONE phonemic difference only. In order to decide whether a pair of words is a minimal pair or not, you need to know what sounds make up the word, and you need to IGNORE the word's spelling.