Sound Gym
lunch · launch
Same consonants around a very different vowel — short /ʌ/ versus long /ɔː/.
Lunch: a short central /ʌ/ like the vowel in cup. Launch: a long rounded /ɔː/ like aw — lips stay round the entire time. Frequently confused by Arabic and Korean speakers.
mouth shape
jaw mid-open, central /ʌ/ — tongue low in the middle of the mouth
lunch
/lʌntʃ/
vowel length
mouth shape
lips rounded, jaw open — long sustained /ɔː/ like 'aw' before -nch
launch
/lɔːntʃ/
vowel length
This word's automated audio can be unreliable on some devices. Hear a real person say it ↓
Key difference
In lunch your lips are relaxed — the vowel is central and short, like a quick grunt. In launch your lips push into a round shape and hold there — it is longer and rounder. They end with the same -nch sound.
Hear it in a sentence
“We grabbed a quick lunch from the sandwich shop around the corner.”
“The company will launch its new product at the trade fair in March.”
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.
lunch
Hear native speakers say “lunch” in real sentences — news, lectures, and podcasts.
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launch
Hear native speakers say “launch” in real sentences — news, lectures, and podcasts.
Opens YouTube-sourced clips in a new tab.
How teachers explain this
Approved tips from the community, sorted by helpfulness
Tip
launch rhymes with dawn and yawn — they all share the same long /ɔː/ sound. If you can say “yawn” correctly, you can say “launch”.
Word families
lunch family ▸
launch family ▸
Related pairs
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