Digraphs: consonant digraph word lists with audio

A digraph is two letters that spell one sound, like sh in ship or ck in duck. Pick a digraph, hear every word on the list, and play a short listening game to practise it.

Digraphs lists

Sample digraphs to hear

Digraphs game

Short answer

What is a digraph?

A digraph is a pair of letters that together spell a single sound. The most common consonant digraphs in English are sh (ship), ch (chin), th (thin and this), wh (when), ck (duck) and ph (phone). Because the two letters make one sound, a child has to read them as a unit instead of sounding out each letter, so digraphs are usually taught right after children can blend simple CVC words.

Di- means two: a digraph is two letters, one sound. Fish has four letters but only three sounds: /f/ /i/ /sh/.
Consonant digraphs are sh, ch, th, wh, ck and ph; vowel digraphs such as ee and ai are taught as vowel teams.
A digraph is not a blend: in a blend like st both sounds are heard, in a digraph like sh they merge into a new sound.
Th spells two different sounds: unvoiced in thin and voiced in this.

How digraphs fit into learning to read

Digraphs are the first place a child meets a big idea in English spelling: letters do not always map one-to-one onto sounds. In a CVC word like cat, three letters spell three sounds. In ship, four letters spell three sounds, because s and h join to make /sh/, a sound that neither letter makes on its own. A child who reads s-h-i-p letter by letter gets something like suh-huh-ip, so the key teaching point is to see the two letters as one unit and say one sound for it.

Most phonics programmes teach sh, ch and th first, because they are very common and their sounds are clear and easy to hear. Ck usually comes at the same time, because it only appears after a short vowel, which the child has just practised in CVC words. Wh is taught next; in most American speech it simply says /w/, so it is mainly a spelling job. Ph comes last, since it appears mostly in longer words borrowed from Greek, such as phone, photo and elephant.

English spelling is one of the harder writing systems in Europe to learn to read, and children learning it take longer to reach secure word reading than children learning more regular spellings. Digraphs are a big part of that: the reader has to handle letter groups, not only single letters. Explicit, systematic teaching of these letter-sound links is one of the approaches with the strongest research support for children who find reading hard, and short, regular practice with lists like these is how that teaching turns into fluent reading.

How to teach digraphs

1Secure CVC words firstDigraph words are CVC words with a two-letter sound in place of one letter. A child who can blend cat and pig reliably is ready for ship and chin.
2Teach one digraph at a timeStart with sh. Show the two letters together, say the sound, and practise words where the digraph comes first (ship, shop), then last (fish, dish). Add ch and th once sh feels easy.
3Mark the digraphHave your child underline or loop the two letters before reading the word. This makes the unit visible and stops letter-by-letter sounding: loop sh, then read sh-i-p, ship.
4Contrast and reviewMix digraphs that are easy to confuse, such as sh and ch, or th and f, in one short list. Return to earlier digraphs every few days so they stay automatic.

Digraphs: frequently asked questions

What is the difference between a digraph and a blend?

In a blend, each letter keeps its own sound and you hear both: s and t in stop, b and l in blue. In a digraph, the two letters make one new sound: s and h in ship make /sh/, not /s/ plus /h/.

What are the consonant digraphs?

The ones children learn first are sh, ch, th, wh, ck and ph. Some programmes also teach ng (ring), kn (knee), wr (write) and gh (laugh). Three-letter versions such as tch (catch) are called trigraphs.

What is a vowel digraph?

Two vowel letters that spell one vowel sound, such as ee in feet, ai in rain and oa in boat. They are usually taught later than consonant digraphs, under the name vowel teams.

When should children learn digraphs?

Usually in kindergarten or early first grade, once they can blend CVC words. Children who still find sh and ch words hard after plenty of practice may need more structured, one-to-one phonics work, and a reading screening can show which skills need support.