dance · dense
dance /dæns/ vs dense /dɛns/ — short /æ/ (jaw drops wider) vs short /ɛ/ (jaw opens less). Both start with /d/ and end with /ns/.
dance and dense share the same start (/d/) and end (/ns/). Only the vowel changes — how wide your jaw drops decides which word you say.
verb / noun — to move your body to music — 'let's dance' · 'a dance class'
mouth shape
short /æ/ — jaw drops wide, lips spread — like 'cat', 'bank', 'hand'
dance
/dæns/
vowel length
adjective — tightly packed together, or thick and hard to see through — 'dense fog' · 'a dense forest'
mouth shape
short /ɛ/ — jaw opens less than /æ/, tongue slightly higher — like 'bed', 'set', 'ten'
dense
/dɛns/
vowel length
Key difference
dance /æ/: jaw drops wide, lips spread — like cat, hand. dense /ɛ/: jaw opens less, tongue a little higher — like bed, set. Say “a” as in cat, then relax your jaw slightly upward — that’s the move from /æ/ to /ɛ/.
Example sentences
dance:“They stayed up all night to dance at the wedding.”
dance:“She takes a dance class every Tuesday.”
dense:“The hikers got lost in the dense forest.”
dense:“This textbook is short but very dense with information.”
Hear it in a sentence
“The whole room got up to dance when the music started.”
“Smoke from the fire made the air thick and dense.”
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.
dance
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dense
Hear native speakers say “dense” in real sentences — news, lectures, and podcasts.
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How teachers explain this
Approved tips from the community, sorted by helpfulness
Word families
dance family ▸
dense family ▸
Related pairs
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