CONSONANT CLUSTERS
What is a Consonant Cluster in English? A consonant cluster is 2, 3 or 4
consonant sounds in a row. Examples of consonants clusters with 2
consonants are /bl/ in ‘black’, /sk/ in ‘desk’ and the /pt/ at the end of ‘helped’.
Examples of clusters with 3 consonants are /str/ in ‘string’, /sks/ in ‘tasks’
and the /kst/ in ‘sixty’. Examples of clusters with 4 consonants in a row are
/ksts/ in ‘texts’ and /mpst/ in ‘glimpsed’.
Why ARE Correct Consonant Clusters Important For Clear English?
There are 3 main reasons why pronouncing consonant clusters correctly is
so important for speaking clear English that people can understand easily.
1. Consonant Clusters Are Everywhere
The first reason is simply that consonant clusters are in so many English
words. If you mispronounce them, you’ll be mispronouncing many, many
words in English.
2. Consonant Clusters Distinguish Between Words
The second reason is that if you mispronounce a consonant cluster, it can
mean another word, and this is confusing to listeners. For example, if you
leave the /l/ out in ‘black’ it sounds like ‘back’ and ‘click’ becomes ‘kick’. If
you leave the /r/ out in ‘free’ it’s ‘fee’ and ‘trip’ it becomes ‘tip’. As you can
see consonant clusters are essential in telling one word from another in
English. Mispronouncing them causes confusion.
3. Consonant Clusters Are Needed For Grammar
Correct consonant clusters are essential for pronouncing grammar markers
in English. Important grammatical markers such as past tense endings and
plurals require the pronunciation of consonant clusters.
For example, if a speaker leaves the /t/ sound off the end of ‘helped’ it
becomes ‘help’ which means the listener doesn’t know that it happened in
the past. This is confusing to listeners and can be an obvious (=clearly)
grammar mistake.
Leaving the /s/ sound off when there is more than one of something, such
as ‘I have 3 meeting’ which should be ‘I have 3 meetings’ or ‘The client are
waiting’ instead of ‘The clients are waiting’. These are obvious grammar
mistakes.
IE: “Access to the road was blocked from traffic yesterday because of the
accident”.
Let’s look at them more closely.
Consonant Clusters That Are Obvious:
/bl/ in blocked,
/fr/ in from,
/tr/ in traffic,
/st/ in yesterday,
/nt/ in accident.
Consonant Clusters That Are Less Obvious:
/ks/ in access,
/kt/ in blocked,
/ks/ in accident.
So there are 8 consonant clusters in that sentence.
Consonant Cluster Examples With Words Endings With /t/
/ft/ final consonant clusters: soft /sɒft/, left /left/, lift /lɪft/
/st/ final consonant clusters: fast /fa:st/, list /lɪst/, post /poʊst/
/ct/ final consonant clusters: act /ækt/, fact /fækt/, picked /pɪkt/
/pt/ – hoped /hoʊp/, helped /helpt/ script /skrɪpt/
Other Consonant Cluster Endings
/sk/ final consonant clusters – task /ta:sk/, desk /desk/, disc /dɪsk/
/sp/ final consonant clusters – crisp /krɪsp/, lisp /lɪsp/, wasp /wɒsp/
Examples of regular past tense cluster endings: looked /lʊkt/,
watched /wɒtʃt/, pushed /pʊʃt/
Why Final Consonant Clusters Are So Important
Pronouncing clusters and consonant blends correctly at the ends of words
is particularly important for clear English.
This is for a few reasons.
Consonant Clusters Are Used To Differentiate Words
The main reason is that the sounds in clusters in many English words
differentiate that word from other words. Another way to say this is that if a
person leaves a sound out of the cluster, it means something else.
at vs act, fat vs fact, light vs liked, missed vs mixed, ascent vs accent,
The other reason, as I’ve mentioned is that word endings are where we mark
many grammatical markers in English.
Final Consonant Clusters Examples For Grammar.
Regular past tense endings require adding the sound /t/ or /d/.
Examples of past tense cluster endings are:
/kt/ in at vs act, fat vs fact, light vs liked, missed vs mixed, ascent vs accent,,
/st/ in passed,
/ft/ in laughed,
/pt/ in shopped
Third person often requires adding /s/.
Examples of third person cluster endings are:
she kicks, he lights, she packs, he lifts,
Plural endings often require adding /s/.
Examples of plural cluster endings are: locks, facts, desks, banks
Difficult English Consonant Clusters
Consonant clusters with 3 consonants are often particularly challenging for
learners.
Let’s look at some consonant clusters with 3 consonants in a row.
We’ll start with final consonant clusters (in other words, consonant clusters
at the ends of words) because for many people, these are often the most
difficult English consonant clusters to pronounce.
Final Consonant Clusters With 3 Consonants
It helps to break it up. For example for the word ‘asks’ it helps to think of the
word in two sections – ‘as’ and ‘ks’. Practise these two sections and then
smoothly join them together, without adding a vowel in between.
asks – practice as ‘as-ks’
tasks – practice as ‘tas-ks’
desks – practice as ‘des-ks’
discs – practice as ‘dis-ks’
acts – practice as ‘ac-ts’
ducts – practice as ‘duc-ts’.
Consonant Clusters At The Start of Words With 3 Consonants
strong & strange – check your /str/ cluster
script & scrunch – check your /skr/ cluster
squint & square – check your /skw/ cluster
spray & sprint – check your /spr/ cluster
Consonant Clusters With 4 Consonants
Did you know that native speakers are actually quite lazy with pronouncing
words with 4 consonants in a cluster. We often gloss over one sound. We
don’t like 4 consonant clusters either!
texts – /teksts/ – to pronounce it perfectly, break it up and practise it as ‘teks-
ts’ and then smoothly join them together. Actually many native speakers will
pronounce it as ‘teks’ in natural speaking.
sixths – many non-native speakers will gloss over the ‘th’ and pronounce it
more like ‘siks’ or ‘sikth’ in their natural speaking.
twelfths – don’t worry if you can’t make ‘th’ correctly – you can easily skip
the ‘th’ in this word and no one will even notice! Luckily we don’t need to use
this word very often. So you can cheat, and pronounce it like – ‘twelfs’.
tempts – practice as ‘temp-ts’ – make sure we can hear /p/ before /ts/.
The Most Difficult Consonant Clusters In English
In my experience the most difficult consonant blends or consonant clusters
of all time are the /θs/ in months/mʌnθs/ and the /θr/ in three /θri:/.
