What are consonant clusters?

Consonant clusters refer specifically to instances where two or more consonant sounds appear adjacent to one another within the same syllable, without any intervening vowels. This phenomenon is common in many languages, including English, where clusters can be found at the beginning or end of words. For example, in the word "street," the "str" at the beginning is a consonant cluster. These clusters can affect pronunciation and syllable structure, making them an important aspect of phonics and literacy development. The other options do not accurately convey this definition. They either refer to vowel sounds, combinations of consonants that don't occur together, or isolated consonant-vowel structures, which do not describe consonant clusters correctly.