For example, in English:
* The /p/ in "pat" is a different phoneme from the /b/ in "bat," even though the sounds are very similar. Changing /p/ to /b/ changes the word's meaning entirely.
* Similarly, the /k/ in "cat" and the /t/ in "hat" are distinct phonemes.
It's important to note that:
* Phonemes aren't letters. While letters often represent phonemes, one letter can represent multiple phonemes (e.g., the letter "c" in "cat" and "city") and multiple letters can represent a single phoneme (e.g., "sh" represents a single phoneme).
* Phonemes are about sound, not spelling. The focus is on how a word is pronounced, not how it's written.
Understanding phonemes is crucial for reading, spelling, and pronunciation. Phonetics is the branch of linguistics that studies the physical properties of speech sounds, including phonemes.