Consonant Stop: k sound /k/

Listen to the k sound

How to pronounce the k sound

The k sound is unvoiced (the vocal cords no not vibrate while procuding it), and is the counterpart to the voiced g sound.

To create the k sound, air is briefly prevented from leaving the vocal tract when the back of the tongue lifts and presses against the soft palate at the back of the mouth. The sound is aspirated when the air is released. The amount of aspiration used to produce a k sound is greater than that used for a g sound.

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Common k sound spellings

spelling	example		other pronunciations for spelling
k	kid skin broke		none
ck	chicken black duck		none
c[1]	cat focus lilac		s sound (city)
ch[2]	chorus chaos ache		sh sound (chef) ch sound (chip)
qu[3]	quit quiet squeak		none
que[4]	antique unique boutique		k sound+w sound+vowel sound (quest)

[1]: c spelling
When the c spelling is followed by the letter e or the letter i, the s sound is the most common pronunciation (examples include the words center and city).

[2]: ch spelling
The ch sound, not the k sound or sh sound, is the most common pronunciation for the ch spelling.

[3]: qu spelling
The qu spelling is not pronounced strictly a k sound, but is rather a k sound followed by a w sound.

[4]: que spelling
The que spelling is generally only pronounced as a k sound when it is at the end of a word; otherwise it is likely pronounced k sound+w sound+vowel sound (examples include the words question and banquet).

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The k sound in suffixes

spelling	example		other pronunciations for spelling
-ic	comic specific idealistic		none

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Non-phonetic k sound words

none

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Pronuncian Lessons

  

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Letter x Pronunciation: k+s or g+z

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