English Consonant Clusters

1. Lt. Dr. B. Ajantha Parthasarathi
Consonant
Clusters in
English

2. Consonant cluster
★ A sequence of two/ more consonants
occurring at the beginning/ end of a syllable
★ A group of consonants with no vowels
between them
★ Can appear in the beginning, in the middle
& at the end of a word
★ Occurs in a single syllable - intra-syllabic
cluster (camp/ing, re/ply)
★ Occurs in 2 different syllable - inter-syllabic
cluster (black/board, im/port)

3. Initial consonant cluster - 2
consonants
/p/ - play, please, pray, press
/b/ - blue, blame, bright, bring,
/t/ - train, treasure, twine, twenty
/d/ - dry, drink, dwell, dwindle
/k/ - clay, client, cry, cross, queen
/g/ - glad, glass, grass, green
/f/ - fly, floor, fry, fresh
/v/ - view

4. Initial consonant cluster - 2 consonants
/θ/ - three, thrift
/s/ - spine, spell, state, sting,
school, scale, smell, smile, snail,
snake, slay, slate, sweet, swine
/m/ - muse, mute
/n/ - new, neuter
/h/ - huge, humour

5. Initial consonant cluster - 3
consonants
/spl/ - spleen, splendid, splash
/spr/ - spring, sprint, spruce
/spj/ - spume, spurious
/str/ - strong, string, straight
/stj/ - stew, stupid, student
/skr/ - screw, screen, scream
/skj/ - skew
/skw/ - square, squat, squeeze

6. /-sp/ - clasp, wasp
/-lp/ - help, pulp
/-mp/ - lamp, pump
/-lb/ - bulb
Final consonant cluster - 2
consonants

7. /-pt/ - opt, adopt
/-kt/ - fact, cooked
/-ʧt/ - attached, watched
/-ft/ - laughed, coughed
/-st/ - last, past
/-ʃt/ - pushed, wished
/-nt/ - ant, want
/-lt/ - felt, tilt
Final consonant cluster - 2
consonants

8. Final consonant cluster - 2
consonants
/-bd/ - robbed, mobbed
/-gd/ - bagged, begged
/ʤd/ - caged, judged
/-vd/ - loved lived
/ðd/ - breathed, writhed
/-zd/ - buzzed, raised
/-md/ - warmed, blamed
/-nd/ - hand, land
/-ŋd/ - banged, hanged
/-ld/ - cold, bold

9. /-sk/ - ask, task
/-ŋk/ - wink, think
/-lk/ - milk, bulk
/-nʧ/ - bench, lunch,
/-nʤ/ - range, hinge
/-lʤ/ - bulge, divulge
Final consonant cluster - 2
consonants

10. /-lf/ - self, wolf
/-lv/ - solve, valve
/-pθ/ - depth
/-tθ/ - eighth
/-dθ/ - width
/-fθ/ - fifth
/-mθ/ - warmth
/-nθ/ - month, ninth
/-ŋθ/ - strength, length
Final consonant cluster - 2
consonants

11. /-ps/ - caps, maps
/-ts/ - cats, mats
/-bz/ - rubs, cubs
/-dz/ - lads, pads
/-gz/ - dogs, begs
/-vz/ - lives, saves
/-ðz/ - breathes, loathes
/-mz/ - comes, warms
/-nz/ - sins, fans
/-ŋz/ - lungs, rings
/-lz/ - pulls, sells
Final consonant cluster - 2
consonants

12. /-dst/ - midst
/-kst/ - fixed, next
/-skt/ - asked, masked
/-mpt/ - tempt, pumped
/-nʧt/ - drenched, pinched
/-nst/ - danced, minced
/-ŋkt/ - thanked, winked
/-ŋst/ - amongst
/-lpt/ - helped, yelped
/-lkt/ - milked, sulked
/-lst/ - whilst
Final consonant cluster - 3
consonants

13. /-nʤd/ - lunged, arranged
/-lʤd/ - bulged
/-ksθ/ - sixth
/-lfθ/ - twelfth
/-pts/ - adopts, adapts
/-pθs/ - depths
/-tθs/ - eighths
/-kts/ - acts, facts
/-fts/ - lifts, gifts
/-fθs/ - fifths
/-sps/ - clasps, lisps
/-sts/ - beasts, lists
/-sks/ - asks, flasks
Final consonant cluster - 3 consonants

14. /-mps/ - lamps, limps
/-nts/ - wants, aunts
/-nθs/ - ninths, tenths
/-ŋks/ - thinks, thanks
/-lps/ - helps, yelps
/-lts/ - tilts, melts
/-lks/ - sulks, milks
/-ndz/ - hands, lends
/-ldz/ - holds, builds
/-lvz/ - solves
Final consonant cluster - 3 consonants

15. /-ksts/ - texts
/-ksθs/ - sixths
/-mpts/ - tempts
/-lfθs/ - twelfths
Final consonant cluster - 4 consonants