---
title: "Mandarin Minimal Pairs: Hear zh or z, an or ang, ü or u | Mandarin The Wild"
description: "Free Mandarin minimal pairs listening quiz: hear zhī or zī, fàn or fàng, lù or lǜ, bǎo or pǎo and pick which, ten in a round. 282 pairs in six sets, real recordings in a female or male voice. No sign-up."
canonical: "https://mandarinthewild.com/pinyin-minimal-pairs"
author: "Mandarin The Wild"
---

Free tool · No sign-up

# Mandarin minimal pairs

Hear one of two pinyin sounds that differ by a single sound, and pick which. Ten in a round, from the six sets learners mix up most.

Voice

Hear

## The six sets

Each set has its own page with every pair to hear and how to tell them apart.

- [zh ch sh vs z c s](https://mandarinthewild.com/pinyin-minimal-pairs/zh-z) 47 pairs
- [j q x vs zh ch sh](https://mandarinthewild.com/pinyin-minimal-pairs/j-zh) 38 pairs
- [n vs l](https://mandarinthewild.com/pinyin-minimal-pairs/n-l) 23 pairs
- [an vs ang, en vs eng, in vs ing](https://mandarinthewild.com/pinyin-minimal-pairs/an-ang) 54 pairs
- [ü vs u and ü vs i](https://mandarinthewild.com/pinyin-minimal-pairs/u-umlaut) 23 pairs
- [b vs p, d vs t, g vs k](https://mandarinthewild.com/pinyin-minimal-pairs/b-p) 97 pairs

## How it works

Press **Start**: a sound plays and two spellings show. Pick the one you heard (1 or 2, or ← and →); the next plays straight away. Space or the speaker plays it again, slower the second time. Both syllables always have the same tone, so only the sound differs.

## Questions

### What is a minimal pair in Mandarin?

Two syllables that differ by one sound and nothing else, such as zhī and zī, or fàn and fàng. Hearing them apart is the first step to saying them apart, and to understanding fast speech.

### Which pinyin sounds are hardest to hear?

For English speakers: zh, ch, sh against z, c, s and against j, q, x; final -n against -ng; ü against u and i; and the puff of air that tells p, t, k from b, d, g. Those are the six sets here.

### Are these real recordings?

Each sound is a real word said by one of two natural ElevenLabs voices, the same as the app’s word cards, and each was checked by machine for the right syllable and tone before it was kept.

## Practise the tones too

[Tone pair chart](https://mandarinthewild.com/tone-pairs): all 20 tone pairs, each a word to hear. [Pinyin trainer](https://mandarinthewild.com/pinyin-trainer): hear a word and name its tones. [Tone practice](https://mandarinthewild.com/tone-practice): say a word and see your pitch over a native speaker’s. [Pinyin chart](https://mandarinthewild.com/pinyin-chart): every syllable in all four tones.

Voices by ElevenLabs, the same two as the app’s word cards.