Consonants /Ɵ/ versus /z/, 73 pairs     [bathbars.html]

The /Ɵ/ sound is spelled with <th>. The /z/ sound is spelled with <s> or <se> or <z> in zinc.

The /Ɵ/ is a voiceless dental fricatives. /z/ is a voiced sibilant, fairly close in the mouth. The contrast is not a great problem, and there are in any case rather few pairs. A good many are accounted for by the pairing of ordinal numbers and plural forms for the numerals 4, 7, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 and 100. I have left in the archaic doth and saith, though they hardly figure in modern speech outside church contexts.

The mean density value is 0.7%. The list makes 71 semantic distinctions, a loading of 97%.

 	
bath baas  
bath bars
Beith B's 	 
Beith bees
berth burrs
both beaux 
both bows
death Des 
doth does 
earth errs
eighteenth eighteens 
eleventh elevens 
faith phase
fifteenth fifteens 
filth fills 
firth firs		  
firth furs
firth furze
fort fought
fourteenth fourteens 
fourth fours
growth grows 
hath has 
health hells
heath he's 
hundredth hundreds 
Keith keys
Keuth quays
loth lows
millionth millions 
mouth mows
myth Ms 
'neath knees
nineteenth nineteens 
ninth nines 
north gnaws 
oath O's 
oath owes
path pars 
path parse
Perth purrs
ruth rues
ruth ruse
saith says
seventeenth seventeens 
seventh sevens 
sleuth slews
sloth sloes 
sloth slows
sooth sous
south sows
strewth strews 
teeth T's 
teeth teas
teeth tease
tenth tens 
thing zing
  things zings
think zinc
  thinks zincs
thirteenth thirteens 
tilth tills 
tooth twos
trillionth trillions 
truth trews 
warmth warms 
wealth wells 
withe whiz 
worth whirrs 
wraith raise 
wraith rays
youth U's 
youth use

John Higgins, Shaftesbury, November 2010,
updated Chiang Mai, May 2024