Bottle or battle? How to say /ɑː/ and /æ/

In American English, bottle and battle differ in one sound: the first vowel. If you say both with the same vowel, listeners can hear battle when you meant bottle, or the other way round.

Watch the 49-second listening lesson with captions and answer reveals.

The two sounds

Sound	Example words	How to make it
/ɑː/ (open, back)	bottle /ˈbɑːtəl/, hot /hɑːt/, top /tɑːp/	Open your mouth wide with your tongue low and back, as when a doctor asks you to say ah.
/æ/ (open, front)	battle /ˈbætəl/, hat /hæt/, tap /tæp/	Drop your jaw and keep your tongue low and forward.

IPA is shown for General American English. In British English, bottle has a different, rounded vowel. Other accents sound different, and that is normal.

The middle t will not help you

In American English, the t in the middle of bottle and battle is usually a quick tap of the tongue that can sound like a soft d. It sounds the same in both words. The only difference is the first vowel, so listen to the vowel: back for bottle, forward for battle.

Common mistakes

Using /æ/ for both. Hot sounds like hat, and bottle like battle.
Using /ɑː/ for both. Cap sounds like cop, and map like mop.
Not opening your mouth enough. Both vowels are open. Drop your jaw for each one, then move your tongue back or forward.

Practise saying these pairs

Say each pair slowly. Check that your tongue moves back for the first word and forward for the second.

/ɑː/	/æ/
bottle /ˈbɑːtəl/	battle /ˈbætəl/
hot /hɑːt/	hat /hæt/
top /tɑːp/	tap /tæp/
cop /kɑːp/	cap /kæp/
mop /mɑːp/	map /mæp/

Practise hearing the difference

For another vowel pair, read the /ɪ/ and /iː/ guide. Explore all pronunciation guides.

General American English. The narration and the spoken examples are synthesized with Microsoft Azure Speech, the Andrew voice. No music. Captions include the answers; leave them off for the listening challenge. About our audio.

Full lesson text and spoken examples · English captions