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Difficulty: MediumConsonant Clusters

Match each word on the left with its correct spoken consonant cluster profile on the right based on English phonology.

  • SphinxContains an initial two-consonant cluster (/sf/) and a final three-consonant cluster (/ŋks/)
  • PlumberContains an initial two-consonant cluster (/pl/) with no final cluster due to a silent consonant letter
  • ExemptsContains a final four-consonant cluster (/mpts/) and no initial consonant cluster
  • StrandsContains an initial three-consonant cluster (/str/) and a final three-consonant cluster (/ndz/)

Answer

'Sphinx' pairs with the initial two-consonant and final three-consonant cluster profile; 'Plumber' pairs with the initial two-consonant cluster profile with no final cluster due to a silent letter; 'Exempts' pairs with the final four-consonant cluster profile; 'Strands' pairs with the initial three-consonant and final three-consonant cluster profile.
Each word is matched strictly according to its spoken phonetic transcription: 'Sphinx' has /sf/ (2 initial) and /ŋks/ (3 final); 'Plumber' has /pl/ (2 initial) and no final cluster because 'b' is silent; 'Exempts' has no initial cluster and /mpts/ (4 final); 'Strands' has /str/ (3 initial) and /ndz/ (3 final).

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Transcribe each target word into its standard phonetic representation to isolate spoken consonant sounds from orthographic spelling.
'Sphinx' = /sfɪŋks/, 'Plumber' = /ˈplʌm.ə/, 'Exempts' = /ɪɡˈzempts/, 'Strands' = /strændz/.
Phonetic transcription isolates true spoken consonant clusters, bypassing silent orthographic letters.
2
Count contiguous sequences of consonant phonemes at the onset (initial position) and coda (final position) of each word.
'Sphinx' has onset /sf/ (2) and coda /ŋks/ (3); 'Plumber' has onset /pl/ (2) and no coda cluster; 'Exempts' has no onset cluster and coda /mpts/ (4); 'Strands' has onset /str/ (3) and coda /ndz/ (3).
Consonant clusters strictly consist of consecutive consonant phonemes within the same syllable marginal position.
3
Match each word to its corresponding structural description based on identified initial and final cluster lengths.
All four words are accurately mapped to their unique structural cluster descriptions.
This verifies complete phonological analysis across onset and coda clusters.

Key Concept

Consonant Cluster Identification and Phonetic Analysis
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Topics

Consonant Clusters

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