Phonemic contrast

Phonemic contrast is the property that allows the discrimination of distinctive speech elements of a language and the accompanying ability of a listener to distinguish meaning.

The term "phoneme" itself is defined in terms of contrast: The phoneme can be described as "The smallest contrastive linguistic unit which may bring about a change of meaning". In this context, a pair of close phonemes may also be called a phonemic contrast, to distinguish them from being allophones.