There are hardly any unusual spellings of the contrasted vowels in this list, with /�/ always spelled with <a> and /e/ with <e> except for <ai> in said and the letter names L, M, N and X. The sounds themselves are both short and fairly close in tongue position, setting problems for learners and even occasionally for native speakers. It is a known problem for Dutch, Scandinavian, German, French, Italian, Greek, Turkish, Hindi and Swahili speaking learners.
The only taboo word pair is crapped/crept.
Interesting pairs include:
alimentary elementary
canyon Kenyan
fanatic phonetic
malady melody
salary celery
The mean density is 2.8%. The 305 pairs make 200 semantic contrasts, giving a loading of 66%.
access excess
ad Ed
ad-man ad-men
added eddied
affluent effluent
affluents effluents
Al L
Alf elf
Ali Ellie
alimentary elementary
Allan Ellen
allergy elegy
allergies elegies
am M
amber ember
and end
Ann N
Annfield Enfield
Annie any
areca Erica
arrant errant
aster Esther
at ate
ax X
axes X's
back beck
backs becks
bad bed
bag beg
bagged begged
bagging begging
bags begs
bally belly
band bend
banded bended
banding bending
bands bends
banns bens
bant bent
barrow-man barrow-men
Barry Bury
Bass Bess
bat bet
bats bets
batted betted
batting betting
batter better
battered bettered
battering bettering
batters betters
begat beget
ban Ben
barrel beryl
barrels beryls
batty Betty
bland blend
blather blether
blathered blethered
blathering blethering
blathers blethers
bogeyman bogeymen
brad bread
bran Bren
cameraman cameramen
canned kenned
can ken
canning kenning
cans kens
candle Kendal
canny Kenny
cant Kent
canyon Kenyan
canyons Kenyans
capped kept
carry Kerry
catch ketch
catches ketches
cattle kettle
caveman cavemen
chessman chessmen
clans cleanse
clam Clem
con-man con-men
crapped crept
crass cress
dab deb
dabs debs
dad dead
Dakar decker
Dan den
Danny Denny
dally Delhi
drags dregs
expand expend
expanded expended
expanding expending
expands expends
expanse expense
expanses expenses
expansive expensive
expansively expensively
fallow fellow
fanatic phonetic
fanatically phonetically
fanatics phonetics
fancies fences
fanned fend
fans fens
fatted fetid
fatter fetter
fattish fetish
fab Feb
fad Fed
flak fleck
flash flesh
flashier fleshier
flashiest fleshiest
flashy fleshy
flax flecks
G-man G-men
gateau ghetto
gateaus ghettos
gas guess
gassed guessed
gasses guesses
gassing guessing
GATT get
gnat net
gnats nets
hack heck
hacks hecks
hackles heckles
had head
Hadjis hedges
Hal hell
ham hem
hammed hemmed
hamming hemming
hams hems
handyman handymen
hap hep
harasses heresies
Harold herald
he-man he-men
jam gem
jams gems
jamb gem
jambs gems
Jan gen
knack neck
knacks necks
lad lead
lads leads
lag leg
lagging legging
lags legs
lambing lemming
land lend
landing lending
lands lends
lapped leapt
lass less
lat let
latter letter
lattice lettuce
lattices lettuces
lantern Lenten
madly medley
mailman mailmen
malady melody
maladies melodies
Malcolm Melcombe
mallow mellow
mallows mellows
mambas members
man men
man-of-war men-of-war
man-at-arms men-at-arms
manned mend
mansion mention
mansions mentions
mantel mental
marry merry
massy messy
massier messier
massiest messiest
mat met
mad Med
mag Meg
minuteman minutemen
muffin-man muffin-men
muscleman musclemen
Nat net
overlapped overleapt
pack peck
packed pecked
packer pecker
packers peckers
packing pecking
packs pecks
paddle pedal
paddled pedalled
paddles pedals
paddling peddling
palate pellet
palates pellets
palette pellet
palettes pellets
pan pen
panned penned
panning penning
pans pens
pap pep
parish perish
parishes perishes
parry perry
pat pet
pats pets
patted petted
patting petting
Patty petty
plaid pled
pressman pressmen
rack wreck
racked wrecked
racking wrecking
radish reddish
rand rend
rands rends
rant rent
ranted rented
ranting renting
rants rents
rap rep
raps reps
rat ret
ratted retted
ratting retting
ratches retches
ravel revel
ravelled revelled
ravelling revelling
ravels revels
Rennes ran
racks wrecks
sac sec
sacked sect
sacks secs
sad said
salary celery
salvage selvage
salvages selvages
salves selves
sand send
sanding sending
sandwichman
sandwichmen
sans sends
sat set
satyr setter
satyrs setters
saxes sexes
schoolman schoolmen
sapped Sept
shackle shekel
shackles shekels
shad shed
shall shell
slapped slept
spanned spend
Stan Sten
superman supermen
tacks techs
tag teg
tags tegs
tally telly
tallies tellies
tallyman tallymen
tamp temp
tamped tempt
tamps temps
tamper temper
tampered tempered
tampering tempering
tampers tempers
tanned tend
tanner tenner
tanners tenners
tans tens
taxed text
tack tech
tarry Terrr
than then
thrash thresh
thrashed threshed
thrashes threshes
thrashing threshing
track trek
tracked trekked
tracking trekking
tracks treks
trad tread
trainman trainmen
vacs vex
vassal vessel
vassals vessels
vat vet
Credit: John Higgins