What is a consonant digraph?
A digraph is two letters that spell one sound. A consonant digraph is two consonants that team up to make a sound that neither letter makes on its own.
s says /s/ and h says /h/, but together sh says /sh/ as in ship. You cannot hear the s or the h separately. This is what makes a digraph different from a blend, where every sound is still heard (st in stop).
The main consonant digraphs
| Digraph | Sound | Beginning | End |
|---|---|---|---|
| sh | /sh/ | ship, shell | fish, wish |
| ch | /ch/ | chin, chop | lunch, much |
| th | /th/ | thin, this | bath, with |
| wh | /w/ | when, whale | — |
| ph | /f/ | phone, photo | graph |
| ck | /k/ | — | duck, sock |
| ng | /ng/ | — | sing, long |
| kn | /n/ | knee, knot | — |
| wr | /r/ | write, wrap | — |
| gh | /f/ | — | laugh, tough |
Two sounds of th
The digraph th actually makes two different sounds.
- The unvoiced th uses air only. Put your hand on your throat: no buzz. thin, thumb, think, bath, three
- The voiced th makes your voice buzz. this, that, the, mother, them
Both are spelled the same way, so readers learn them by listening.
The ch digraph has extra sounds
Most of the time ch says /ch/ as in chair. In some words borrowed from other languages it says:
- /k/ in school, choir, chorus (from Greek)
- /sh/ in chef, machine, Chicago (from French)
When to use ck
The digraph ck spells /k/ only at the end of a short word, right after a short vowel: back, neck, sick, rock, duck.
After a long vowel or a consonant, use k instead: cake, bike, milk, bank.
Trigraphs
A trigraph is three letters that spell one sound.
- tch says /ch/ after a short vowel: catch, fetch, itch, watch
- dge says /j/ after a short vowel: badge, edge, bridge, fudge
- igh says long i: night, light, high
A helpful spelling rule: after a short vowel, use tch (match); after a long vowel or consonant, use ch (coach, lunch).
Digraphs and blends together
Some words have both: shrimp starts with the digraph sh plus r; three starts with th plus r; lunch ends with n plus the digraph ch.
Reading tip: look for the team
When decoding, train your eyes to spot letter teams before sounding out. In chest, see ch as one sound: /ch/ /e/ /s/ /t/. Underlining or circling digraphs with a pencil helps beginners.
Worked examples
Example 1: How many sounds are in shop? → Three: /sh/ /o/ /p/.
Example 2: Voiced or unvoiced th? feather → Voiced.
Example 3: ck or k? snea__, ba__ → sneak (long vowel, so k), back (short vowel, so ck).
Example 4: tch or ch? pi__, pea__ → pitch, peach.
Common mistakes
- Sounding the letters separately: /s/ /h/ /i/ /p/ for ship.
- Using ck after a consonant: milck ✗ → milk ✓.
- Writing f for ph words: fone ✗ → phone ✓.
Try it yourself
- Circle the digraphs: The white sheep chewed thick grass.
- Count the sounds in thick and church.
- Fill in ch or tch: ma__, bun__, ca__.
- Read: whisk, photo, knock, wrench.
Answers: 1. wh, sh, ch, th, ck. 2. thick: 3 sounds; church: 3 sounds. 3. match, bunch, catch. 4. Read aloud.
Tip for families
Make a "digraph house." Draw a house with rooms labelled sh, ch, th, wh and ck. Cut pictures from magazines and decide which room each one belongs in.
Quick recap
- A digraph is two letters that spell one sound.
- The main consonant digraphs are sh, ch, th, wh, ph and ck.
- Th has a voiced and an unvoiced sound.
- Trigraphs like tch and dge use three letters for one sound.