pan · pane · pain

Short /æ/ vs diphthong /eɪ/ — pane and pain are exact homophones; pan is the odd one out.

← Back to Sound Gym

Partial homophones

pane and pain are exact homophones — both /peɪn/. pan is different — short /æ/, not the diphthong /eɪ/.

pan

/pæn/

short /æ/ — different

pane

/peɪn/

diphthong /eɪ/ = pain

pain

/peɪn/

diphthong /eɪ/ = pane

⠿ reorder

noun — a flat-bottomed cooking vessel — 'frying pan' · 'saucepan' · 'pan-fry' · also verb: 'critics panned the film' (criticise harshly) · 'pan for gold' · 'the camera panned left'

mouth shape

short /æ/ — PAN — jaw drops wide, tongue low and forward — lips spread — like 'cat', 'man', 'can' — a bright, flat vowel — very different from the /eɪ/ in pane and pain

pan

/pæn/

vowel length

short /æ/

⠿ reorder

noun — a single sheet of glass in a window or door — 'a pane of glass' · 'a broken window pane' · 'double-pane window' — the final E is silent; it only lengthens the vowel

mouth shape

diphthong /eɪ/ — PAYN — starts mid-front /e/ then glides up to /ɪ/ — like 'name', 'came', 'lane' — the silent E changes the vowel from /æ/ to /eɪ/ — identical in sound to pain

pane

/peɪn/

vowel length

diphthong /eɪ/

⠿ reorder

noun / verb — physical or emotional suffering — 'a sharp pain' · 'in pain' · 'pain relief' · 'painkillers' · 'it pains me to say' · 'pain in the neck' (idiom for something annoying)

mouth shape

identical to pane — diphthong /eɪ/ — PAYN — pane and pain are exact homophones — the 'ai' spelling produces the same /eɪ/ diphthong as the silent E in pane

pain

/peɪn/

vowel length

diphthong /eɪ/

Vowel spotlight — short /æ/ vs diphthong /eɪ/

pan

/pæn/

short /æ/ — flat, jaw wide open

like: cat · man · can · tan

≠

pain / pane

/peɪn/

diphthong /eɪ/ — glides upward

like: name · came · lane · rain

Magic E connection — pan → pane

Adding a silent E to pan gives pane — and changes the vowel from short /æ/ to diphthong /eɪ/. The same pattern: man → mane, can → cane, van → vane, plan → plane. The E is silent but it “reaches back” to lengthen the vowel.

Key difference

pan: short /æ/ — jaw drops, flat — like “cat” or “man” — PAN rhymes with CAN and TAN.

pane / pain: diphthong /eɪ/ — glides up — like “name” or “rain” — PAYN rhymes with LANE and RAIN.

Example sentences

pan:“Heat some oil in a panover medium heat.”

pan:“The film was pannedby critics when it first came out.”

pane:“A stone cracked the paneof glass in the front door.”

pain:“She felt a sharp painin her lower back after lifting the boxes.”

pain:“Learning irregular verbs is a real pain, but it pays off.”

Hear it in a sentence

“She set the heavy iron pan on the hob and turned the heat to medium.”

“The window cleaner replaced the cracked pane before lunchtime.”