Two consecutive consonants that represent one new speech sound are called?

• A. Cues
• B. Decoding
• C. Consonant Diagraphs
• D. Anchor Book

Answer: (C)

Two consecutive consonants that together make one sound are called consonant digraphs. This is when two letters team up to produce a single phoneme, not two separate sounds. Examples include sh as in ship, ch as in chair, th as in thing, and ph as in photo. Recognizing these blends helps readers decode words more smoothly because they don’t sound out each letter separately; they pronounce the single sound the pair represents.

Other terms don’t describe this specific unit of sound blending. Cues are prompts or hints to help understanding, not a description of letter-sound relationships. Decoding is the broader process of turning written language into spoken sounds, which is related but doesn’t name the particular letter pair. An anchor book isn’t a standard term for this concept.