Phonemic distinctions in a language can be tested via pairs and sets of words. When two words such as pat and bat are identical in form except for a contrast in one phoneme, occurring in the same position, the two words are described as a minimal pair. More accurately, they would be classified as a minimal pair in the phonology of English. (Arabic, for example, does not have this contrast between /p/ and /b/.) Other examples of English minimal pairs are fan–van, bet–bat, site–side. Such pairs have traditionally been used in the teaching and testing of English as a second or foreign language to help students develop the ability to understand the contrast in meaning based on the minimal sound contrast.

When a group of words can be differentiated, each one from the others, by changing one phoneme (always in the same position in the word), then we have a minimal set. 44 The Study of Language For example, one minimal set based on the vowel phonemes of English could include feat, fit, fat, fate, fought, foot, and another minimal set based on consonant phonemes could have big, pig, rig, fig, dig, wig