A pair of words that differ by one phoneme is known as a minimal pair. When the distinguishing phonemes differ minimally, such as by one characteristic, they are considered minimal opposing minimal pairs (/si/ see and /ti/ tea). In contrast, when the distinguishing phonemes differ by many features they are said to be maximal opposing minimal pairs (me /mi/ and see /si/). When a pair of words differs by the presence or absence of one phoneme they are considered to be near minimal pairs (see /si/ and seat /sit/).