NK

The n in nk is not /n/ — it is /ŋ/. Think is /θɪŋk/, which is why nk is taught as a glued unit rather than blended.

Digraphs

nk DIGRAPH_NK_01

Strong rule · High reliability · Common · Beginner · Reading and spelling

• /ŋk/ nk: think, bank, pink

Where Wiggler teaches it: Skill 5: Glued Sounds & Spelling Basics

Child explanation

Say pink slowly. The n sounds like the ng in ring, not like the n in net. That is why we learn ank, ink, onk and unk all in one piece.

The rule

Before k, the letter n represents /ŋ/ rather than /n/. The pair is taught whole because a child cannot easily separate the vowel from the nasal in ank, ink, onk and unk.

What is really going on

Nasal assimilation: /n/ becomes velar /ŋ/ before the velar stop /k/. The written n is unchanged, so the spelling shows a sound the word does not contain. Because the preceding vowel is also slightly altered before a nasal, these rimes are conventionally taught as welded units rather than as three separable phonemes.

Position in the word

• End of a word — The usual position. For example: bank, pink, think, junk.
• Middle of a word — At a syllable boundary. For example: blanket, monkey, thinking.

Examples

Easy examples

bank, pink, think, junk, sink

More examples

tank, thank, drank, link, wink, drink, honk, trunk, bunk, skunk, blank

Pseudo-words

Made-up words that follow the rule. A child who reads these has the pattern rather than the vocabulary.

flonk, prank, shink

Contrast pairs

• ban versus bank — The n changes sound when k follows.
• pick versus pink — ck after a vowel; k after a nasal.

Teacher note

Teach the four rimes as chunks — ank, ink, onk, unk — with a rhyming set for each, and do not ask children to segment think into four separate sounds. The whole justification for glued sounds is that the segmentation is harder than the word.

Related rules

• Glued sounds: ank, ink, onk, unk — ank / ink / onk / unk — The n in these is /ŋ/, not /n/. Four rimes, taught whole for the same reason as ang and ing.
• Glued sounds: ang, ing, ong, ung — ang / ing / ong / ung — The vowel before ng is not quite the short vowel a child has learned, so these four rimes are taught whole rather than blended.
• NG — ng — One sound made at the back of the mouth. It never starts an English word, and the g is not a separate /g/.
• CK after a short vowel — ck — One sound, /k/, and a strict position rule: ck only ever follows a short vowel at the end of a syllable. Never at the start of a word.

• Previous in Digraphs: NG — ng — One sound made at the back of the mouth. It never starts an English word, and the g is not a separate /g/.
• Next in Digraphs: QU — qu — Q never travels alone in English. Qu is one unit representing /kw/ — two sounds from two letters that must be read together.
• All reading rules

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