Sound Gym

slept · slipped

Short /ɛ/ vs short /ɪ/ — both past tenses ending in /-pt/, only the vowel differs.

⠿ reorder

verb — past tense of sleep (irregular) — 'she slept through the alarm' · 'I slept well' · 'slept like a log'

mouth shape

short /ɛ/ — mouth mid-open, tongue mid-low — like 'bed', 'set', 'wept' — then cluster /-pt/ at the end: /p/ stops airflow, /t/ releases it

slept

/slɛpt/

vowel length

short /ɛ/

⠿ reorder

verb — past tense of slip (regular, doubled P) — 'he slipped on the ice' · 'it slipped my mind' · 'slipped a disc' · 'prices slipped'

mouth shape

short /ɪ/ — tongue high and forward, mouth nearly closed — like 'bit', 'sit', 'dripped' — same /-pt/ cluster at end, but the vowel is higher and tighter

slipped

/slɪpt/

vowel length

short /ɪ/

Vowel spotlight — /ɛ/ vs /ɪ/ — same /sl…pt/ frame

slept

/slɛpt/

short /ɛ/ — irregular past of sleep

like: wept · crept · swept · kept

≠

slipped

/slɪpt/

short /ɪ/ — regular past of slip

like: dripped · gripped · tripped

Irregular vs regular past tense

sleep → slept (irregular)

The vowel /iː/ shortens to /ɛ/ — same as keep→kept, weep→wept, creep→crept, sweep→swept

slip → slipped (regular)

Short vowel + single consonant → double the consonant + -ed — same as: drip→dripped, grip→gripped, trip→tripped

Key difference

Both end in the consonant cluster /-pt/. Only the vowel differs.slept: /ɛ/— mid-open, like “bed” — rhymes with wept, crept, kept.slipped: /ɪ/— tongue high, mouth nearly closed — like “bit” — rhymes with dripped, gripped.

Example sentences

slept:“She slept for ten hours after the long flight.”

slept:“They slept under the stars on the camping trip.”

slipped:“He slipped on the wet tiles and sprained his ankle.”

slipped:“The date completely slipped my mind — I forgot completely.”

Hear it in a sentence

“She slept for nine hours straight after the overnight flight.”

“He slipped on the wet kitchen floor and knocked his elbow on the counter.”

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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