One of the most difficult things for a French speaker to do correctly in English is to decide if the H needs to be heard or not. Here are examples of words that sound the same except that some have an aspirated H and others do not. Do you know what all those words mean? If you don’t, ask!
had/ad
• I had a good time
• This ad is awful
hail/ail/ale
• We got caught in a hail storm
• This is good for what ails you
• My favorite kind of beer is ale
hair/*heir/air
• Your hair looks nice today
• The heirs are getting along very well
• I love the scent of sea air
hairbrush/airbrush
• Where did you put the hairbrush?
• I don’t like how they airbrush all the photos in the magazines
hairline/airline
• Men in their 50s sometimes have a receding hairline
• My favorite airline is…
hall/all
• I don’t like to see students loitering in the hall
• All my friends enjoyed this movie.
hallowed/allowed **
• The war memorial is hallowed ground
• Yes, it is allowed
halter/alter
• Halter tops without sleeves are popular in the summer for women
• Sometimes it is wise to alter your opinion
ham/am
• Ham is a great Christmas food in America
• I am very motivated to improve my English
hand/and
• The right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing!
• And your point is?
hanger/anger **
• Remember to put your clothes on a hanger
• Anger is natural, but it does not solve anything
hanker/anchor
• I have a hankering for strawberries
• The ship’s anchor is huge!
harm/arm
• First do no harm
• Keep your arm inside of the vehicle!
has/as
• She has a great sense of humor
• Toulouse is 20 kilometers from my house as the crow flies
hash/ash
• Hashtag #Happy
• The ash in the air is giving me a cough
hat/at
• That’s a beautiful hat!
• At this point I am not sure what to do
hate/ate/eight
• I hate it when you ignore me!
• He ate a lot of chocolate
• The cat gave birth to eight kittens
* Silent H (although Brits do pronounce the H in herb)
** The words have different vowel sounds
*** The words might have different vowel sounds, according to the accent
