Glossary · Letters, phonics and word reading
What are ng and nk endings?
Definition
The endings ng and nk, as in sing and sink, use the nasal sound /ng/; with a vowel before them they make chunks like ang, ing, ong, unk and ink.
Ng spells one sound, the /ng/ at the back of the mouth. Nk is two sounds, /ng/ followed by /k/, even though the n looks like an ordinary /n/. Say sink slowly and your tongue never touches the front of your mouth.
The vowel also shifts a little before these endings. The a in bank doesn't sound quite like the a in bat, and the i in king sounds closer to long e in many accents. That's why many programs teach the chunks as units: ang, ing, ong, ung, ank, ink, onk, unk. Some call them welded or glued sounds.
Treat the chunk as a reading shortcut, not a reason to stop segmenting. For spelling, students still need to hear /k/ at the end of sink.
In a lesson
Write king, then kink. Ask what changes. The student hears that kink adds /k/. Then sort thing, think, rang and rank into ng and nk piles by listening.
Examples
Each word with its spelling units, one per sound.
- rangr·a·ng
- rankr·a·n·k
- trunkt·r·u·n·k
Words come from our lexicon, checked against a pronouncing dictionary. Words a student sees in our assessments are left out.
Why does this matter for the record?
Errors here are usually spelling ones, like sik for sink. Note whether the student drops the n or the k; they need different help.
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