Consonant Strings
Posted by: Josef EssbergerEvery syllable in English must have at least one vowel sound, or does it?
Normally, every syllable in English must have at least one vowel (or vowel sound). So it’s quite surprising to think that there are words with 5 or more consonants in a row.
Here are a few words with 5-letter consonant strings:
BIRTHPLACE, BREASTSTROKE, DOWNSTREAM, EIGHTHS, MATCHSTICK, NIGHTCLOTHES, NIGHTCLUB, NIGHTDRESS, STRENGTHS, THOUSANDTHS
Here are two words with 6 consonants in a row:
CATCHPHRASE, KNIGHTSBRIDGE
Can you think of any more? There are quite a few.
Posted by Josef Essberger November 2007

3 comments
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Dominic de Takats says:
rhythms 7
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Philip says:
RHYTHM, that’s a 6’er!
BTW, thank you for the post, I came across it whilst Googling for words with 5 or more consonants. I am working on a spam filter and I need a list of “safe” words to check against. Ta.
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Abdulfatah says:
Thank you,
Really you have put vey ineresting subjects.