Americans for whom “Mary”, “marry” and “merry” are all pronounced the same – do the three words have different vowel sounds in your head that just sound similar when spoken?
September 19, 2025
Or do you think of them as exact homophones with arbitrary spellings that you have to learn – similar to there/their/they're?
41 comments
I think of them as homophones.
They all sound the same to me, both spoken and in my head.
Exact homophones.
From experience, very rarely. It also depends on the regional accent. We can often tell which one it is based on the context of the sentence.
Same with “pin/pen”.
These are all homophones in my head and out loud.
I say Mary like Rhoda does on The Mary Tyler Moore Show
Exact homophones.
Sounds the same in my head as it does when I speak the words. These are definitely more of a homophone like there/their/they’re.
The cot/caught divide in the US is much more interesting. The farther west you go, the more those 2 words sound the same …
“Mary” has a slightly sharper emphasis on the “a” than “marry.” And “merry” has more emphasis on the start of the vowel sound than “Mary” which has it in the middle.
There are very small differences in my head. Mary has the sharpest vowel sound. Marry is a bit softer in the vowels, lower in the throat (if that makes sense), and merry is more of an “eh” sound.
They’re homophones, but I think the different spellings are useful.
They sound different in my head. I would be able to intentionally emphasize that for clarity of speech
I can’t tell the difference between pen and pin. They sound the same to me and I pronounce them the same.
In my head they sound really slightly different. I think they sound the same when I speak them.
Merry sounds different to me but perhaps it’s how I say it.
I have different vowel sounds for these in my head. They just come out the same.
I have an “all 3 pronounced the same” accent and the meanings and contexts are so different, there is never any thought about it. They all sound the same spoken and in my head. Unless by some random coincidence I am saying “I want to marry Mary and be merry” these words will never come into contact with one another in my brain to have to think about the difference.
The 3 “there’s” are closer in both spelling and context that more people get them mixed up.
Mary and marry are identical. Merry has a different sound in my head but when I speak, these 3 words are really, really similar.
For me, Mary and Marry – the “a” is sort of softer and flows with the word. So these would rhyme with “scary”.
For Merry as in “Merry” Christmas – the “e” is more accented. It would rhyme with “terry”.
For there, their, they’re – they all sound the same to me, you can only tell the difference when written.
..sound exactly the same in my head lmao
Mary and Marry sounds the same. Merry is different.
I would pronounce “Mary” and “Merry” alike, but not “marry”.
They’re all exact homophones to me.
Im in the new England area and one is spoken with the vowel closer to the front of the mouth while the other is spoken from the back of the mouth.
Then again, the new England area generally doesn’t have the pre-rhotic vowel merger youre talking about.
Its the same with cot-caught, and horse-hoarse mergers as well, new england accents/dialects pronounce them differently while west coast, southern, and some Midwestern accents pronounce them the same.
They all sound different to me, although the differences are subtle.
All the same.
Exact homophones. (I grew up in SE Michigan) My internal voice has the same accent as my normal voice. “cot” and “caught” are NOT homophones, and neither are “pin/pen” for me
In my mind there is a difference between Mary/marry and merry. But when I say it out loud to myself I’m not sure it translates.
Western New York – *they all sound the same aloud and in head*
I think of them as different; there’s Mary, there’s marry (with a slight extra emphasis on the R) and merry (with a soft “eh” sound) but due to my watered down Southern accent it apparently all sounds like “M’rree”
Sometimes Merry can sound slightly different to me in Connecticut. Kinda similar to the first syllable of mirror. Or I guess the difference of “ear” vs “air”.
No difference in my head or out of my mouth.
I can’t even imagine how they *would* be pronounced differently…
Not the target audience for this as I pronounce merry noticeably different from Mary and marry, but it is worth noting that Mary is a proper noun, marry is a verb, and merry is an adjective. Context should make it abundantly clear which is being used, even if they sound the same.
Exact homophones with different spelling
Homophones. Pronounced the same. Spelled different helps in writing and context helps in conversation to distinguish between them.
They all sound distinctly different to me, which I understand is the case for only a pretty narrow region of the country. But I really can’t even picture how they’d conceivably sound the same — they’re totally different vowel sounds to me.
Mary/Marry are essentially the same for me. Merry is ever so slightly different, but if I’m talking fast it’s hard to pick up.
All three words sound in my head like they do when I speak them.
I have this conversation with my friends all the time. Mary, Merry, Marry & Aaron, Erin
To me, they are the same – spoken and in my head. I’m from CT. To my friends from NY, they are completely different. I can hear them pronounce them differently when they demonstrate, but I don’t know which is which. I’m unsure which spelling of the word I pronounce when I say “I spoke to Mary yesterday”. Do they think I’m insane for saying “I spoke to Merry yesterday”?
41 comments
I think of them as homophones.
They all sound the same to me, both spoken and in my head.
Exact homophones.
From experience, very rarely. It also depends on the regional accent. We can often tell which one it is based on the context of the sentence.
Same with “pin/pen”.
These are all homophones in my head and out loud.
I say Mary like Rhoda does on The Mary Tyler Moore Show
Exact homophones.
Sounds the same in my head as it does when I speak the words. These are definitely more of a homophone like there/their/they’re.
The cot/caught divide in the US is much more interesting. The farther west you go, the more those 2 words sound the same …
“Mary” has a slightly sharper emphasis on the “a” than “marry.” And “merry” has more emphasis on the start of the vowel sound than “Mary” which has it in the middle.
There are very small differences in my head. Mary has the sharpest vowel sound. Marry is a bit softer in the vowels, lower in the throat (if that makes sense), and merry is more of an “eh” sound.
They’re homophones, but I think the different spellings are useful.
They sound different in my head. I would be able to intentionally emphasize that for clarity of speech
I can’t tell the difference between pen and pin. They sound the same to me and I pronounce them the same.
In my head they sound really slightly different. I think they sound the same when I speak them.
Merry sounds different to me but perhaps it’s how I say it.
I have different vowel sounds for these in my head. They just come out the same.
I have an “all 3 pronounced the same” accent and the meanings and contexts are so different, there is never any thought about it. They all sound the same spoken and in my head. Unless by some random coincidence I am saying “I want to marry Mary and be merry” these words will never come into contact with one another in my brain to have to think about the difference.
The 3 “there’s” are closer in both spelling and context that more people get them mixed up.
Mary and marry are identical. Merry has a different sound in my head but when I speak, these 3 words are really, really similar.
For me, Mary and Marry – the “a” is sort of softer and flows with the word. So these would rhyme with “scary”.
For Merry as in “Merry” Christmas – the “e” is more accented. It would rhyme with “terry”.
For there, their, they’re – they all sound the same to me, you can only tell the difference when written.
..sound exactly the same in my head lmao
Mary and Marry sounds the same. Merry is different.
I would pronounce “Mary” and “Merry” alike, but not “marry”.
They’re all exact homophones to me.
Im in the new England area and one is spoken with the vowel closer to the front of the mouth while the other is spoken from the back of the mouth.
Then again, the new England area generally doesn’t have the pre-rhotic vowel merger youre talking about.
Its the same with cot-caught, and horse-hoarse mergers as well, new england accents/dialects pronounce them differently while west coast, southern, and some Midwestern accents pronounce them the same.
They all sound different to me, although the differences are subtle.
All the same.
Exact homophones. (I grew up in SE Michigan) My internal voice has the same accent as my normal voice. “cot” and “caught” are NOT homophones, and neither are “pin/pen” for me
In my mind there is a difference between Mary/marry and merry. But when I say it out loud to myself I’m not sure it translates.
Western New York – *they all sound the same aloud and in head*
I think of them as different; there’s Mary, there’s marry (with a slight extra emphasis on the R) and merry (with a soft “eh” sound) but due to my watered down Southern accent it apparently all sounds like “M’rree”
Sometimes Merry can sound slightly different to me in Connecticut. Kinda similar to the first syllable of mirror. Or I guess the difference of “ear” vs “air”.
No difference in my head or out of my mouth.
I can’t even imagine how they *would* be pronounced differently…
Not the target audience for this as I pronounce merry noticeably different from Mary and marry, but it is worth noting that Mary is a proper noun, marry is a verb, and merry is an adjective. Context should make it abundantly clear which is being used, even if they sound the same.
Exact homophones with different spelling
Homophones. Pronounced the same. Spelled different helps in writing and context helps in conversation to distinguish between them.
They all sound distinctly different to me, which I understand is the case for only a pretty narrow region of the country. But I really can’t even picture how they’d conceivably sound the same — they’re totally different vowel sounds to me.
All the same to me
They’re homophones, but they’re so far apart in language that there’s really no mistake. [Some singers even have fun with it.](https://youtu.be/R3sOA6yQc4A?si=6Z1DhF8RU6kBB-o7)
Mary/Marry are essentially the same for me. Merry is ever so slightly different, but if I’m talking fast it’s hard to pick up.
All three words sound in my head like they do when I speak them.
I have this conversation with my friends all the time. Mary, Merry, Marry & Aaron, Erin
To me, they are the same – spoken and in my head. I’m from CT. To my friends from NY, they are completely different. I can hear them pronounce them differently when they demonstrate, but I don’t know which is which. I’m unsure which spelling of the word I pronounce when I say “I spoke to Mary yesterday”. Do they think I’m insane for saying “I spoke to Merry yesterday”?