Vowels 2 and 20, /ɪ/ and /ʊə/   9 pairs
[lidlured.html]

Vowel /ɪ/ is here spelled <i>. The /ʊə/ diphthong is <oor>, <our> or <ure>. This dictionary has /bʊən/ as the only pronunciation of bourn (meaning stream or boundary). Other dictionaries give that as an alternative to /bɔn/, which would make the word a homophone of born, reducing the number of minimal pairs to seven.

The contrast is not a problem for any known group of learners.


bin bourn
  bins bourns
biz boors	
krill crewel
krill cruel
lid lured
Liz lures
mid moored
Ms Moors 

John Higgins, Shaftesbury, July 2014
updated Chiang Mai, 2025