What are two words in the English language with a very slight difference sound called?

Two words in the English language with a very slight difference in sound are called minimal pairs.

For example:

* "cat" and "cot" (differing only in the vowel sound)

* "ship" and "sheep" (differing only in the final consonant sound)

* "write" and "right" (differing only in the vowel sound and the consonant sound)

Minimal pairs are helpful in understanding phonetics and phonology, and they are often used in language learning to highlight the difference between similar sounds.