I recently learned that バレー is the short form of バレーボール and the word for
ballet, on the other hand is typically spelled バレエ. I'm wondering whether this
difference in spelling reflects a phonetic contrast.

At least according to Wikipedia, the pronunciation of
[バレー](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E3%83%90%E3%83%AC%E3%83%BC) and
[バレエ](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E3%83%90%E3%83%AC%E3%82%A8#Japanese) is
the same, but when I asked a native speaker she told that she thinks that the
pronunciation does differ, although she admitted that both words "kinda" sound
the same.
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pronunciation
Are バレー (volleyball) and　バレエ (ballet) pronounced differently?
They definitely sound different. (I would say for バレー, the sound is a bit
extended on the "re") As to "how big of a difference," that's a matter of
opinion. (By the way, there are a lot of words that are spelled exactly the
same and have different sounds as well! e.g: 地震（じしん）と自信（じしん）)
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(Disclaimer: The following is my personal understanding; I could not find
authoritative reference about this, and I don't own an accent dictionary.)

  * バレー (volleyball): almost always バレー【HLL】 (unless it's in a compound word such as バレーボール【LHHHLL】)
  * バレエ (ballet): either as バレエ【LHH】 or バレエ【HLL】.

For ballet, I feel バレエ【LHH】 sounds somewhat more "modern" or "jargon-like",
while バレエ【HLL】 may be the "orthodox" pronunciation. (The same goes for
ドラマ【LHH】 vs ドラマ【HLL】, クラブ【LHH】 vs クラブ【HLL】, etc)

This means when you hear バレエ【LHH】をやっています, you can usually assume it means
ballet, while when you hear バレー【HLL】をやっています, you have to guess or ask. And I
have definitely heard native speakers ask どっちのバレー? ("Which バレー do you mean?")
several times.

By the way, from what I understand, バレエ is conventionally spelled as such so
that it can be visually distinguished from バレー(ボール). Ballet is sometimes
spelled also as バレー, and I think it's not wrong.
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Firstly, as a learner of Japanese I have personally only heard them pronounced
in the same way, and I have not been able to find any contrasting example on
[Forvo](https://ja.forvo.com/) or Youtube (only a couple of searches).

(But I _guess_ a possible explanation for any perceived deviations in
pronunciation may come from the fact that the longer form of volleyball has
another accentuation pattern, which perhaps may influence some speakers to
pronounce the short form of volleyball (slightly) different than ballet.)

All resources I have checked also give the pronunciations as the same. I have
taken the liberty to convert the various accent visualisations to the format
of Japanese.SE, see below.

**Kenkyusha’s New Japanese—English Dictionary** (4th ed., 1974):

```

    バレー{HLL} ballet, volleyball
    バレーボール{LHHHLL} volleyball
    
```

English **Wiktionary** (as of 2017-02-02):

```

    バレー{HLL} volleyball, ballet
    バレエ{HLL} ballet
    バレーボール{LHHHLL} volleyball
    
```

**[OJAD](http://www.gavo.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/ojad/)** (as of 2017-02-02):

```

    バレエ{HLL}
    バレーボール{LHHHLL}
    
```
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answer