DIPHTHONGS: Word Drill
Read these pairs of words as they are pronounced. Some people cannot tell them apart. Can you? Why do some people have trouble pronouncing these words?
| wae | choose the good ones | wai | fresh water |
| hao | iron | hau | a type of tree |
| moe | to lie down | moi | a type of fish |
| pō | night | pou | a post |
| he | grave | hei | string figure on fingers |
| poi | Hawaiian food | koe | remaining, left over |
| lae | point of land | lai | type of fish |
| wao | wilderness | wau | I (pronoun) |
| hoi | type of vine | hoe | to paddle |
| hou | new | hō | garden hoe |
| nei | here (Hawai‘i nei) | nē | murmur |
| ‘oi | best | ‘oe | you (singular) |