English pronunciation
Consonant Clusters
Examples of final and medial consonant clusters with two or three consonant phonemes.
When there are three or more consonants together, native speakers do not always produce as many consonant sounds. These lists provide practice with final consonant clusters and link to related work on elision and assimilation.
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Examples on this page
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beginning with voiced bilabial nasal / m /
001 mp (final) bump, camp, hemp, limp, lump, ramp
002 mps (final) amps, camps, lamps, lumps, mumps, trumps
003 mf (final) lymph, nymph
004 mft (final) triumphed
005 mfs (final) nymphs
006 mt (final) camped, dreamt revamped, lumped
007 mt (medial) empty, temptation
008 mtr (medial) temptress
009 mts (final) tempts
010 md (final) aimed, assumed, formed, roamed, shamed
011 mst (final) glimpsed
012 mz (final) comes, terms, times
beginning with voiceless bilabial plosive / p /
013 pθ (final) depth
014 pθs (final) depths
015 pθr (medial) upthrust
016 pt (final) abrupt, Egypt, except, harped, kept, opt
017 pt (medial) abruptly, absorption, acceptable
018 pts (final) accepts, adopts
019 ps (final) cups, equips, jumps, perhaps, steps
020 ps (medial) Epsom, Ipswich, lopsided, upside down
021 pst (final) lapsed
beginning with voiced bilabial plosive / b /
022 bd (final) absorbed, bribed, curbed, lobbed, robed, robbed
023 bz (final) cabs, fibs, jabs, knobs, verbs, yobs
beginning with voiceless labiodental fricative / f /
024 fθ (final) fifth, twelfth
025 fθs (final) fifths, twelfths
026 fθl (medial) fifthly
027 ft (final) craft, drift, gift, left, lift, loft, soft
028 ft (medial) after, daftest, often rafter, softly, swiftly, thrifty
029 fts (final) crofts, drifts, gifts, lifts, lofts
030 fs (final) beliefs, cliffs, chefs, chiefs, hankerchiefs, laughs
beginning with voiced labiodental fricative / v /
031 vd (final) arrived, believed, involved, lived, proved, saved
032 vz (final) additives, captives, loaves, loves, serves, waves
beginning with voiceless dental fricative / θ /
033 θs (final) baths, cloths, maths, oaths, paths, truths
beginning with voiced dental fricative / ð /
034 ðd (final) bathed, betrothed, clothed, seethed, swathed
035 ðz (final) bathes, breathes, clothes, loathes, seethes, soothes
beginning with voiced alveolar nasal / n /
036 nθ (final) month, tenth
037 nθ (medial) anthem
038 nt (final) ant, aren´t, aunt, bent, can´t, font, want
039 nts (final) ants, fonts, grunts, hints, hunts, pants
040 ntst (final) chintzed
041 nd (final) behind, concerned, find, found, friend, owned
042 nd (medial) friendship, landlord * Note rules for deletion of / d /
043 ndz (final) bends, ends, friends, sounds
044 ns (final) hence, pence, since, tense
045 ns (medial) pensive, tenses
046 nz (final) hens, lens, pens, runs, tens
047 nʧ (final) lunch, pinch
048 nʧt (final) lunched, pinched
049 nʤ (final) change, hinge
050 nʤd (final) changed, hinged
beginning with voiceless alveolar plosive / t /
051 tθ (final) breadth, eighth, hundredth, thousandth, width
052 tθs (final) breadths, eighths, hundredths, thousandths, widths
053 ts (final) cats, eats, fights, its, meets, parts, puts, waits
054 tst (final) amidst, midst
beginning with voiced alveolar plosive / d /
055 dz (final) almonds, beds, birds, hands, kinds, weeds, words
beginning with voiceless alveolar fricative / s /
056 sp (final) clasp, crisp, gasp, lisp, wasp
057 st (final) chased, first, pursed
058 sts (final) thirsts
059 sk (final) ask, desk, dusk, risk
beginning with voiced alveolar fricative / z /
060 zd (final) amazed, crazed, gazed, lazed, phased, phrased
beginning with voiced alveolar lateral approximant / l /
061 lmd (final) filmed
062 lmz (final) elms, films
063 lp (final) help
064 lpt (final) helped
065 lps (final) helps
066 lbd (final) bulbed
067 lbz (final) bulbs
068 lf (final) self
069 lfθs (final) twelfths, Alf´s
070 lft (final) elfed
071 lvd (final) delved
072 lθ (final) health
073 lθs (final) tilths
074 lnd (final) kilned
075 lnz (final) kilns
076 lt (final) difficult
077 ltst (final) waltzed
078 ld (final) cold, held
079 ldz (final) holds, worlds
080 ls (final) else
081 lz (final) fills, girls
082 lʧt (final) filched
083 lʤd (final) bilged
084 lʃt (final) welshed
085 lk (final) milk, silk
086 lks (final) milks
087 lkt (final) milked
088 lkts (final) mulcts
beginning with voiced alveolar approximant / r /
rm (final) silent before a consonant in England & Wales "alarm" / əˈlɑ:m /, "arm" / ˈɑ:m /, "warm" / ˈwɔ:m /
rm (final) generally pronounced (& sometimes rolled) in Scotland & Ireland
"alarm" / əˈlɑ:rm /, "arm" / ˈɑ:rm /, "warm" / ˈwɔ:rm /
The / r / within these consonant clusters is generally pronounced in Canada most parts of the USA.
The / r / is pronounced by all English speakers when it precedes a vowel sound, as in "angry" / ˈæŋrɪ / or "zebra" / ˈzebrə /.
/ r / can precede several other consonants sounds, though in these contexts it is rarely pronounced in England and Wales.
beginning with voiceless post-alveolar affricate / ʧ /
089 ʧt (final) hitched, matched, watched
beginning with voiceless post-alveolar affricate / ʤ /
090 ʤd (final) caged, edged, forged, judged, waged
beginning with voiceless post-alveolar fricative / ʃ /
091 ʃt (final) cashed, fished, mashed, washed
beginning with voiceless post-alveolar fricative / ʒ /
092 ʒd (final) leisured, measured, pleasured, treasured
beginning with voiced palatal semi-vocalic / j /
/ t / + / j / is often replaced by / ʧ / in words such as "nature" / ˈneɪʧəʳ /, "future" / ˈfju:ʧəʳ /, "feature" / ˈfi:ʧəʳ /, and "creature" / ˈkri:ʧəʳ /. This type of assimilation is known as coalescence. See Wikipedia on Yod-coalescence.
/ d / + / j / is often replaced by / ʤ / in words such as "gradual" / ˈgræʤʊəl / and individual / . This type of assimilation is known as coalescence. See Wikipedia on Yod-coalescence.
beginning with voiced velar nasal / ŋ /
093 ŋθ (final) length
094 ŋt (final) instinct
095 ŋts (final) instincts
096 ŋd (final) longed
097 ŋst (medial) minxed
098 ŋz (final) things
099 ŋk (final) think
100 ŋg (final) thing
beginning with voiceless velar plosive / k /
101 kθ (final) sixth
102 kθs (final) sixths
103 kt (final) fact, worked
104 kts (final) conflicts, contexts, expects texts
105 ks (final) six, works
106 kst (final) context, next, oversexed, pretext, text
beginning with voiced velar plosive / g /
107 gd (final) bagged, hugged, logged, tagged, wagged
108 gz (final) eggs, figs, mugs, rugs
Glossary
- Voiceless consonants no vibration of the vocal cords and more pulmonic air.
- Voiced consonants the vocal cords vibrate, limiting the airflow.
- Bilabial consonants / m /, / p / and / b / are made with both lips.
- Labio-dental consonants / f / and / v / are made with the upper teeth and the lower lip.
- Dental consonants / θ / and / ð / are made with the tip of the tongue against the upper teeth.
- Alveolar consonants / n /, / t /, / s /, / z / and / l / are made with the tip of the tongue against or near to the ridge behind the upper teeth.
- Postalveolar consonants / ʃ /, / ʒ /, / ʧ / and / ʤ / are made with the tongue near or touching the back of the alveolar ridge, placing them a bit further back in the mouth than the alveolar consonants, which are at the ridge itself, but not quite as far back as the hard palate.
- Velar consonants / ŋ /, / k / and / g / are made with the back part of the tongue against the back part of the roof of the mouth.
- Nasal consonants / m /, / n / and / ŋ / are made with the velum lowered, allowing air to escape through the nose.
- Plosives or stop consonants / p /, / b /, / t /, / d /, / k / and / g / are made by stopping the airflow in the vocal tract.
- Fricative consonants / f /, / v /, / θ /, / ð /, / s / and / z / are made by forcing air through a narrow channel by placing two articulators close together.
- Affricate consonants / ʧ / and / ʤ / start as plosives, but release as fricatives rather than directly into the following vowel.