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Vowels 1 /i/ versus null, 172 pairs     

In a number of these cases two occurrences of /i/ have been deleted before the comparison, especially in the case of abbreviations such as CID and QED, leaving the paired terms side and queued.

In several cases the deleted /i/ represents the personal morpheme -ee, as in absentee, bailee, bargee, escapee, trainee, etc. As this is still a fairly live morpheme, there is potential for many further instances to arise.

One interesting case is the near homograph of Dives and dives, representing a pronunciation of /`daIviz/ rather than /`diveIz/ for the former.

absentee absent
AD aid
aeon an
aeon 'un
aphides aphids
appointee appoint
BA bay
BA bey
bailee bail
bailee bale
bailees bails
bailees bales
bargee barge
bootee boot
BST best
casein caisson
ceiling sling
ceilings slings
Chinese chines
CID side
CID sighed
C-in-C since
CO sew
CO so
CO soh
CO sow
coatee coat
coatee cote
COD sewed
COD sowed
create crate
created crated
creates crates
creating crating
creator crater
creators craters
debauchee debauch
deified defied
deifies defies
deify defy
deifying defying
deities ditties
deity ditty
Dives dives
divorcee divorce
DoE do
DoE doe
DoE doh
DoE dough
draftee draft
draftee draught
Dundee dunned
Ealing ling
easing zing
eater to
eating ting
Egypt gypped
eking king
emu mew
emus mews
emus muse
Enoch knock
eon an
eon 'un
epoch pock
epochs pocks
epochs pox
escapee escape
evocation vocation
evocations vocations
feeling fling
feelings flings
Felix flicks
fleeing fling
foresee force
foreseeable forcible
foreseeing forcing
genteel gentle
goatee goat
grandee grand
ie ay
ie aye
ie eye
ie I
ie i
internee intern
internee intern
internee interne
internees internes
internees interns
internees interns
JP jape
Kathy Kath
keeling cling
keying king
kilos close
LEA LA
lei lay
lei ley
leis lays
leis laze
leis leys
Leo lo
Leo low
lessee less
Louise loos
Louise lose
marquee Mach
marquee Mark
marquee mark
marquee marque
miaow mow
miaowed mowed
miaowing mowing
miaows mows
mortgagee mortgage
naiades naiads
OED ode
OED owed
OT oat
PA pay
Parsee pass
patentee patent
payee pay
payees pays
peeing ping
PR pa
PR pah
PR par
PR parr
QED queued
RC arse
receipt wrist
receipts wrists
repeal ripple
repealed rippled
repealing rippling
repeals ripples
repeat ripped
sae essay
sae essay
scenic snick
seakale scale
sealing sling
seamier smear
seaport sport
seaports sports
seating sting
seaway sway
seaways sways
seeing sing
Semite smite
Semites smites
senior sneer
seniors sneers
sepia spear
settee set
settee sett
sortie sort
sortie sought
teeing ting
tempi temp
TNT tent
trainee train
trainees trains
treeing Tring
trustee trussed
trustee trust
vendee vend
vendees vends
warrantee warrant
weeing wing

Credit: John Higgins