A consonant cluster is a group of consonants without any vowel. They can appear at the beginning, in the middle of at the end of words.

For example:

initial st : stop

middle st: faster

final st: tallest

Spanish and Portuguese speakers have difficulties pronouncing s-cluster words, especially when the cluster is located at the beginning of a word.

In this mini lesson I’ll teach you how to pronounce words that start with S consonant clusters.

‘SP’, ‘ST’, ‘SM’, ‘SK’, ‘SL’ ‘SN’ and ‘SW’ are consonant clusters that are not present at the beginning of words in Spanish, Portuguese and other languages. To improve your pronunciation it is important that you recognize them and learn how to pronounce each sound of the cluster correctly.

Watch this video and practice to improve your pronunciation

Do you want to practice pronunciation? Download a worksheet with more initial position /s/ consonant blends.

Happy practice!!

Do you remember any other words in English that start with an ‘S’ cluster?