This document discusses consonant clusters in English. It defines consonant clusters as sequences of two or more consonants occurring within a syllable with no vowels between them. Consonant clusters can appear initially, medially, or finally within words. The document provides numerous examples of initial, medial, and final consonant clusters containing 2, 3, or 4 consonants in English words.

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