One simple way to remember the difference between phonemes and morphemes is to focus on their roles in language. Think of phonemes as the building blocks of sounds and morphemes as the building blocks of meaning.
A phoneme is the smallest unit of sound in a language. For example, the word ‘cat’ has three phonemes: /k/, /æ/, and /t/. These sounds come together to form the word, but on their own, they don’t carry meaning.
On the other hand, a morpheme is the smallest unit of meaning. A morpheme can be a word by itself, like ‘cat’, or a part of a word, like the ‘s’ in ‘cats’ that indicates plurality. To solidify this distinction, remember: phoneme = sound and morpheme = meaning.
You can also use a mnemonic device: think of ‘phone’ as related to sound (phonemes) and ‘more’ as related to meaning (morphemes). This can help you quickly recall that phonemes are about sounds, while morphemes deal with meaning in language.