Cap or Cup? How to see and say the difference between \/æ\/ and \/ʌ\/

Sometimes, the difference between sounds in English can be very small. That is the case with 'cap' and 'cup', because the vowels /æ/ and /ʌ/ are made realtively close to each other in the mouth.

If you don't have these two distinct sounds in your own language, it may be hard for you to tell them apart - and even harder for you to make them clearly. However, there are some clues in the mouth position which will help you hear and say these two sounds - let's explore them together.

When you look at the IPA script for these words, shown in the slash brackets, you can see clearly that the vowels are different:

cap /kæp/ crash /kræʃ/

cup /kʌp/ crush /krʌʃ/

Practising these sounds in isolation, and watching yourself in a mirror while you do so, will help you learn the difference between these vowels.

• You should see an open mouth with wide lips for the sound /æ/ and a narrower lip position with a more closed mouth when you say /ʌ/.

• When you say /æ/, your tongue will be further forward in your mouth and your jaw is fairly low.

• When you say /ʌ/, your tongue is in a more neutral, central position - but the centre of the tongue is lowered slightly, meaning your jaw may drop a little too.

You will find IPA spellings - along with an audio sample - in learners' dictionaries like the Cambridge Dictionary so you can always check exactly how a word should be pronounced.

If you want to learn and practise all 44 sounds and symbols in British English, my interactive British English vowels and consonants chart is a great place to start...

And if you're interested in testing your knowledge of IPA sounds and word stress more generally, try my British English pronunciation game 'Stress Code'.

Which words or sounds do you find difficult to pronounce? Get in touch with me via our website - I often cover questions from learners in my videos and blogs.