Are “cap,” “cop,” and “cup” all made with different vowel sounds? I have been asked questions about these three vowel sounds many times. In fact, all three vowel sounds are different. Depending on your first language, they may sound very similar to you. Let’s take a look at how each of these sounds are made, as well as what makes them different from one another.
First let’s assign a symbol for each of these sounds, which will make it easy for us to refer to them. We’ll write the sound in the word “cap” AE. Here we are using two letters because the symbol from the IPA that represents this sound looks like a lowercase letter A and E. But this is just one sound. We’ll talk more about the IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) shortly.
For the sound used in the word “cop” we’ll use the letters AH.
And for the sound used in the word “cup” we’ll use the letters UH.
Let’s also look for a moment at the IPA. If you know the IPA, this will show you exactly what sounds we’re talking about. If you don’t know the IPA, these three words are a great place for you to start.
The sound AE is æ
The sound AH is ɑ
The sound UH is ʌ
CAP is sounded as: kæp
COP is sounded as: kɑp
CUP is sounded as: kʌp
The sound AE:
For many learners of English, the sound they are comfortable pronouncing for a written letter A is the sound AH. While there are many words written with an A and pronounced with the sound AH (such as the word “father”), it’s very important to also be able to make the sound AE. The sound AE is a front vowel sound. The resonance of the sound is in the front of the mouth. The front of the tongue has a very slight arch, but the tongue is quite flat in the mouth. The mouth is more open than for the front vowel sound EH. You can think of opening the mouth laterally, with the corners turned up into a slight smile. The sound AE is shorter and has a sharper quality than the sound AH that many people are familiar with.
While I have worked with many people who have said they couldn’t hear the difference between AE and AH, I once had a student who gave one important qualifier. He said that to him they were the exact same sound, but one sounded like it was “in a cave.” I have shared this image with many students over the years and even included it in my Basic Sounds Workbook. Exactly right! The one sound is “in a cave,” and the cave is your mouth. So if you are making the sound AH and are trying to find the position to make the sound AE, think of moving your sound forward, toward the front of your face, and out of the cave. You can think in terms of of the area of resonance for these two sounds. Where does the sound “sit”? The sound AH is a back vowel and sits in the back of the mouth. The sound AE is a front vowel and it sits in the front of the mouth.
For all of these vowel sounds, the tip of the tongue rests gently behind the lower front teeth. In fact all vowel sounds (with the exception of vowels with the sound R) are made with the tip of the tongue in neutral position, behind the lower front teeth.
Speaking of tongue positions, let’s look at what the tongue is doing for these three words. Many consonant sounds are created by using the tip of the tongue. However the sound “kuh” is made with the back of the tongue, and the sound “puh” is made with the lips. So the tip of the tongue can remain in neutral position the whole time when saying the words “cap,” “cop,” and “cup.”
Here are some words to practice with the sound AE. (Remember, keep the sound forward and you might turn the corners of the lips up into a slight smile.)
match
snack
last
ash
cab
The sound AH:
This sound is common in many languages. It’s possible that you are already able to make this common English sound perfectly. With the tip of the tongue anchored behind the lower front teeth, this time the back of the tongue arches very slightly. Note that the tongue position is very flat. If you “try” to arch it, it’s possible that you will raise it too much. It might be better to just think of the tongue being quite flat, with the mouth fairly open. (Don’t overdo any of these adjustments! Please be gentle with directions like “open the mouth.”) The resonance is in the back of the mouth. And if you’re already making the sound correctly, then you don’t need to think about your tongue and mouth position at all! Just continue to make the sound in a natural and easy way as you have been doing, staying relaxed and confident in knowing that this is a sound you already have.
If you want to find the sound AH from the reference point of the previous sound AE, then simply move the sound further back “into the cave.” If the corners of the lips were turned up for AE, let them relax now as you let the mouth drop open a bit in a vertical direction. (It’s worth repeating the idea “don’t overdo it” as it is easy to work too hard at this if we’re not careful. Stay relaxed, and don’t strain. It’s important to be gentle in adjusting your mouth position. You will find it!)
Here are some words to practice with the sound AH*:
hot
stop
lock
on
cob
The sound UH:
The sound UH is a middle vowel sound, located between the the back vowel sound AH and the front vowel sound AE. Whereas the lips were in a slightly lateral position for AE and a vertical position for AH, for this sound the lips should be relaxed and neutral. The mouth is slightly open, but more closed than for the sounds AE or AH. The tongue position for UH is actually lower than the normal resting tongue position. You can imagine that there is a string underneath your tongue that goes straight down (magically passing through your jaw) and you can pull gently on that string to get the center of the tongue to lower slightly. The sound UH sits in that spot in the center of the tongue. If you feel like you are instead making the sound AH, try to let the sound come forward into the center of your mouth. You can also make more of an effort to relax (your mouth, your jaw, and your breathing all the way down to your center) and in relaxing, the mouth should close slightly (from the open AH mouth position).
Here are some words to practice with the sound UH*:
luck
stuff
fun
bud
rug
Something fun to try:
These three sounds (AE, AH, UH) are the default short sounds for the written letters A, O, U. In a one-syllable word (and often in a single syllable within a multisyllabic word), if there is only one vowel in the word and it is not followed by an R, these are the sounds we would expect to hear. When you notice one of these words (spelled with A, O, or U) in your reading today, see what happens if you change one of these vowels with another one of them. In many cases you’ll end up with another word. You might see words like: “luck,” “rock,” and “pot.” What happens if you change the vowels? You won’t always end up with new words, but sometimes you will. “Lack,” “lock,” “rack,” “rock,” “pat,” and “putt.” * And here we end up with an exception — the letter U in the word “put” is not made with the sound UH, but is made with a different sound (the sound Uu as in “book”). But don’t worry about the exceptions to the rules! The exceptions have their own logic as well and you can learn them all!
*Another common place we hear the sound AH is in the first sound of the diphthong AHer, most commonly in words written with “AR” in a stressed syllable, such as “car,” “far,” “star,” “dark,” and “charm.”
*Note that in any language there is a wide variety of pronunciations of certain sounds. Here we are using the pronunciation of AH for the short O sound, which is found in syllables with a single vowel O, followed by a consonant other than R.