Comment Comment by Anon1096 負う and 王 are both hepburn-romanized as ou though. 方 and 頬 (hou vs hoo) is a better example. I don't really think native speakers still distinguish these.Feel free to try listening yourself though:頬, note that it has multiple pronunciations but we only care about hoo: https://forvo.com/word/%E9%A0%AC/#ja方 https://forvo.com/word/%E6%96%B9%E3%80%80%EF%BC%88%E3%81%BB%...In some cases though there is still a clear difference in pronunciation for most speakers, ex 塔 vs 遠 parent Anon1096 10 months ago
Feel free to try listening yourself though:
頬, note that it has multiple pronunciations but we only care about hoo: https://forvo.com/word/%E9%A0%AC/#ja
方 https://forvo.com/word/%E6%96%B9%E3%80%80%EF%BC%88%E3%81%BB%...
In some cases though there is still a clear difference in pronunciation for most speakers, ex 塔 vs 遠