# Number of words distinguishable only by vowel sounds (in English) **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 12, 2018, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-of-words-distinguishable-only-by-vowel-sounds-in-english/814021 "2018-05-12T00:29:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2018, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-of-words-distinguishable-only-by-vowel-sounds-in-english/814021/21 "2018-05-12T11:43:43Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Would abide, abed, ebbed, and oboed count for your list? Or does the vowel sound have to be exclusively between the b and d? Exclusively between > [@Maserschmidt](#): > > ‘Bede’ is a venerable word. “Bede” is pronounced like “bead,” isn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2018, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-of-words-distinguishable-only-by-vowel-sounds-in-english/814021/22 "2018-05-12T14:16:21Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > …“bad” and “bade”… Wait a minute? You don’t pronounce “bade” to rhyme with “flayed”, “made”, or “braid”? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2018, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-of-words-distinguishable-only-by-vowel-sounds-in-english/814021/23 "2018-05-12T14:21:24Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > Homophones, btw I managed to not only use the wrong word but mistype it as well. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2018, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-of-words-distinguishable-only-by-vowel-sounds-in-english/814021/24 "2018-05-12T15:21:42Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > Wait a minute? You don’t pronounce “bade” to rhyme with “flayed”, “made”, or “braid”? Well, you can look it up. Some dictionaries are accepting the “spelling pronunciation” /beɪd/ but the original and most accepted pronunciation is /bæd/, just like the adjective “bad”. BTW, “bade” was just the past tense of “bid” in Old English. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2018, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-of-words-distinguishable-only-by-vowel-sounds-in-english/814021/25 "2018-05-12T16:35:11Z")
> [@glee](#): > > As a diversion: > > cough > rough > bough > > 😉 dough (D’oh) ---
**Author:** ![DavidwithanR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@DavidwithanR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidwithanR)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2018, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-of-words-distinguishable-only-by-vowel-sounds-in-english/814021/26 "2018-05-12T18:53:15Z")
Hugh Houghton-Hough thought he could plough through a trough of tough dough. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2018, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-of-words-distinguishable-only-by-vowel-sounds-in-english/814021/27 "2018-05-12T20:13:51Z")
Well for me, bade and bad are not homophones. The former rhymes with fad, had, sad,…, while the latter rhymes with mad and glad. In the Philly dialect I grew up with, those sounds are different. In fact, I do not know how to pronounce “Mad men” since I would say Mad Avenue differently from the adjective mad. I read somewhere that various dialectics of English have between 22 and 24 distinct vowels, so nothing in this thread surprises me. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2018, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-of-words-distinguishable-only-by-vowel-sounds-in-english/814021/28 "2018-05-13T00:57:24Z")
Arabic is rather the opposite. Words generally have a root of three consonants, and they do have vowels but they don’t even write them in most writing (I think in more formal writing they do use vowels, but the vowels are written more like diacritics than letters). It’s understood what the word is without vowels, if not explicitly then from context. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2018, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-of-words-distinguishable-only-by-vowel-sounds-in-english/814021/29 "2018-05-13T12:17:44Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > Arabic is rather the opposite. Words generally have a root of three consonants, and they do have vowels but they don’t even write them in most writing (I think in more formal writing they do use vowels, but the vowels are written more like diacritics than letters). It’s understood what the word is without vowels, if not explicitly then from context. That’s a characteristic of related languages like Hebrew, too. ---
**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2018, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-of-words-distinguishable-only-by-vowel-sounds-in-english/814021/30 "2018-05-13T14:52:21Z")
For the OP’s list: Baht [the answer to ‘what do you call Thai currency?’]. American pronunciation tends to make it sound like Bart Simpson, but try it with a long vowel sound or an Australian accent [ ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2018, 8:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-of-words-distinguishable-only-by-vowel-sounds-in-english/814021/31 "2018-05-14T08:52:03Z")
Seemingly identical vowels aren’t always. Do you pronounce ‘suede’ and ‘swayed’ exactly the same? Exactly? Or to you hold one slight longer than the other, so in your mind you making a distinction? 'Mind" exactly the same as ‘mined’? ‘Least’ exactly the same as ‘leased’? ‘Hire’ exactly the same as ‘higher’? ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2018, 9:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-of-words-distinguishable-only-by-vowel-sounds-in-english/814021/32 "2018-05-14T09:13:07Z")
> [@Banksiaman](#): > > For the OP’s list: > > Baht [the answer to ‘what do you call Thai currency?’]. American pronunciation tends to make it sound like Bart Simpson, but try it with a long vowel sound or an Australian accent [ We’re getting into rhotic versus non-rhotic here, I think: I can easily distinguish between “baht” /bɑːt/ and “Bart” /bɑːrt/ because I can hear the /r/ sound in “Bart”, which is just as clearly not present in “baht” because, for me, that subtly modifies the vowel sound in a way not clearly captured by the broad transcription I just used. If you’re unaccustomed to hearing that distinction, probably because you don’t make it yourself, I can see how “baht” and “Bart” would be homophones for you. (I realize that by using IPA, I deprive everyone of a wild goose chase inherent in attempting to use respelling schemes to capture dialectical variation. I’m just a spoilsport that way.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-of-words-distinguishable-only-by-vowel-sounds-in-english/814021.md?page=1)