/æ/ as in "bag"

/æ/ is a low front vowel of General American English, as in "bag" and "cat." To produce it, jaw drops, tongue forward and flat. Phoneme provides native-speaker audio and minimal-pair contrasts so learners can hear and practice this vowel.

How to make /æ/

low front vowel — jaw drops, tongue forward and flat.

Sounds that learners confuse with /æ/

• /æ/ vs /e/ — /e/ as in "bed"
• /æ/ vs /ə/ — /ə/ as in "bus"
• /æ/ vs /ɑ/ — /ɑ/ as in "dog"

Minimal pairs for /æ/

/æ/ vs /e/

/æ/	/e/
bad	bed
pan	pen
man	men
pat	pet
bat	bet
tan	ten
fad	fed
lag	leg

/æ/ vs /ə/

/æ/	/ə/
cap	cup
lack	luck
cat	cut
hat	hut
tan	ton
bag	bug
pan	pun
bat	but

/æ/ vs /ɑ/

/æ/	/ɑ/
cat	caught
hat	hot
bag	bog
tap	top
cap	cop
pat	pot
map	mop
lack	lock