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Question

Difficulty: MediumConsonant Clusters

Which of the following words contains a final consonant cluster consisting of three distinct consonant phonemes?

  1. A
    halves
  2. craftsAnswer
  3. C
    lambs
  4. D
    receipts

Answer

crafts
The word 'crafts' is phonetically transcribed as /krɑːfts/. The final sound sequence consists of three consecutive, audible consonant phonemes: /f/, /t/, and /s/.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Transcribe each candidate word phonetically to identify spoken consonant phonemes while ignoring silent letters.
'halves' = /hɑːvz/, 'crafts' = /krɑːfts/, 'lambs' = /læmz/, 'receipts' = /rɪˈsiːts/.
Phonetic consonant clusters are defined by consecutive spoken consonant sounds, not orthographic spelling.
2
Isolate the sequence of consonant sounds at the end of each word.
'halves' ends in /vz/ (2 sounds), 'crafts' ends in /fts/ (3 sounds), 'lambs' ends in /mz/ (2 sounds), and 'receipts' ends in /ts/ (2 sounds).
The question specifically requests a final consonant cluster containing three distinct consonant phonemes.
3
Select the word whose final phonetic structure matches the required three-consonant sequence.
'crafts' contains the final three-consonant cluster /f/-/t/-/s/.
It is the only word among the options that produces three audible consonant phonemes at the end.

Key Concept

Identifying Final Consonant Clusters and Accounting for Silent Letters
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Topics

Consonant Clusters

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