path vs pass: hear and say the difference
path and pass are identical except for one sound: path has the voiceless th, /θ/, and pass has the s sound, /s/. For TH the tongue tip comes forward to the teeth — you can see it — while for S it stays behind them near the ridge; TH is soft and spread, S is a thin, sharp hiss.
The two words
The difference
What actually changes
For TH the tongue tip comes forward to the teeth — you can see it — while for S it stays behind them near the ridge; TH is soft and spread, S is a thin, sharp hiss.path — /θ/
- Lips
- Relaxed and slightly apart — they must not close.
- Tongue
- Tip just touching, or peeking between, the front teeth.
- Jaw
- Slightly open so the tongue can reach the teeth.
pass — /s/
- Lips
- Slightly spread, corners back.
- Tongue
- Tip near — not touching — the ridge, with a narrow groove down the middle.
- Jaw
- Almost closed; the teeth nearly meet.
Each word in a sentence
path
The path runs behind the houses.
pass
You need a pass to enter.
Why this pair is hard
Mandarin, Japanese, Korean, French, German and Russian have no TH and reach for S, which is exactly what makes this the pair to drill. European Spanish and Modern Standard Arabic have the TH sound already, so for those speakers the work is only in the English words that use it.
Straight answers
What is the difference between "path" and "pass"?
One sound. path is /pɑːθ/ and pass is /pɑːs/ — everything else in the two words is identical, so that single contrast carries the whole meaning. For TH the tongue tip comes forward to the teeth — you can see it — while for S it stays behind them near the ridge; TH is soft and spread, S is a thin, sharp hiss.
Why do I say "path" and "pass" the same way?
Mandarin, Japanese, Korean, French, German and Russian have no TH and reach for S, which is exactly what makes this the pair to drill. European Spanish and Modern Standard Arabic have the TH sound already, so for those speakers the work is only in the English words that use it.
Should I train my ear or my mouth first?
Your ear. If you cannot reliably hear which word was said, your mouth has no target to aim at, and drilling produces a sound you cannot check. Run the listening test on this page until you are scoring four or five out of five, then record the pair.
Say "path" and "pass" and see which one you said
One take covers both words: reference mode aligns each sound against its target, so the contrast comes back scored on both sides. Free, private, in your browser.