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Vowels 11 and 20, /3/ versus /ʊə/     14 pairs       

The /3/ vowel is spelled with <er>, <ir>, <ear>, <ur>, and <yr> in myrrh. The /ʊə/ diphthong is spelled <our> and <oor>.

This is a contrast between a long vowel and a diphthong. The starting positions are fairly close, but there is a difference of lip-rounding, so it causes no problems for learners.

Interesting pairs include:

pearly poorly
Shirley surely

The density figure is 1.33%. The set makes 10 semantic contrasts giving a loading of 71.4%.

burn bourn
  burns bourns 
burr boor 
  burrs boors 
gird gourd
  girds gourds
myrrh Moor 
pearly poorly
per poor
Shirley surely
spur spoor 
  spurs spoors 
turd toured 
year you're

Credit: John Higgins