aunt · ant

In American English these are homophones. In British English aunt has a longer /ɑː/ vowel.

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🌍 Two accents, two pronunciations of “aunt”

🇺🇸 American English

/ænt/

sounds identical to ant

🇬🇧 British English

/ɑːnt/

longer, like “arm” or “car”

⠿ reorder

noun — the sister of one's parent, or the wife of one's parent's sibling — 'Aunt Sarah' · 'my favorite aunt' — American /ænt/ sounds identical to ant; British /ɑːnt/ has a longer, deeper vowel.

mouth shape

American: /ænt/ — jaw drops wide, like 'can' or 'hat'. British: /ɑːnt/ — jaw drops and mouth opens wider, back of throat, like 'car' or 'palm'

aunt

🇺🇸 /ænt/ · 🇬🇧 /ɑːnt/

vowel length

short /æ/

⠿ reorder

a small insect — in American English, sounds exactly like 'aunt'

mouth shape

jaw drops wide — short /æ/ like 'cat', 'can', 'hand' — same as American pronunciation of aunt

ant

/ænt/

vowel length

short /æ/

The /æ/ vs /ɑː/ contrast

/æ/

SHORT open vowel

cat · hat · man · can

jaw drops, mouth wide

/ɑː/

LONG back vowel

car · arm · palm · bath

jaw drops, back of throat

The /ɑː/ vs /æ/ distinction appears in many British vs American differences: bath/path/laugh/can’t all have /ɑː/ in British English and /æ/ in American English.

Key difference

In American English, aunt and ant are homophones — both /ænt/. In British English, aunt is /ɑːnt/ with a longer, deeper vowel — like the a in car or arm. Ant is always /ænt/ in both accents.

Example sentences

aunt:“My aunt lives in London.”

ant:“There is an ant on the table!”

ant:“The ant carried food three times its weight.”

Hear it in a sentence

“Her aunt flew in from Sydney just for the wedding.”

“An ant carried a crumb three times its own size across the patio.”

Hear it in the wild

Real speech from native speakers — the most reliable way to check a pronunciation, since automated audio can vary by device and browser.

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aunt