---
title: "an vs ang, en vs eng, in vs ing: 54 Mandarin Minimal Pairs with Audio | Mandarin The Wild"
description: "Hear the difference between an or ang, in or ing in Mandarin: 54 minimal pairs (fān/fāng, ān/āng, yān/yāng, yīn/yīng, wān/wāng) to hear in a female or male voice, a ten-question listening quiz and how to say each. Free, no sign-up."
canonical: "https://mandarinthewild.com/pinyin-minimal-pairs/an-ang"
author: "Mandarin The Wild"
---

[Mandarin minimal pairs](https://mandarinthewild.com/pinyin-minimal-pairs) · an / ang

# an vs ang, en vs eng, in vs ing

54 pairs to hear, from 饭 fàn and 放 fàng on. Take the quiz, then tap any pair below to hear both.

Voice

Hear

## How to tell them apart

A final **-n** ends with the tongue tip on the ridge behind the top teeth; **-ng** ends at the back, the back of the tongue raised and the tip down, as in English “sing”. The vowel moves too: the _a_ of _an_ is said further forward than the _a_ of _ang_, which is darker.

Listen to how each one ends: _an_ stops short and bright, _ang_ rings on. Many southern speakers merge _in_ and _ing_, _en_ and _eng_, so those are the hardest pairs here.

## All 54 pairs

## Questions

### What is the difference between an or ang, in or ing in pinyin?

A final -n ends with the tongue tip on the ridge behind the top teeth; -ng ends at the back, the back of the tongue raised and the tip down, as in English “sing”.

### 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.

## 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.