Wh words: question words and more
Wh starts many of the questions children ask all day: what, when, where, why and which. Hear every word, learn the few wh words that say /h/, and play the game.
Wh words list (36 words)
Tap a word to hear it.
Wh question words
Wh at the beginning
Wh inside longer words
Wh that says /h/
Wh words game: listen and find
Hear a word from the list and pick it from four look-alike words. Eight rounds, about two minutes.
Wh words spelling game: build the word
Hear a word and build it from letter tiles, one sound at a time. Letter pairs like sh or ck come as one tile, because they spell one sound. Six rounds.
Short answer
What are wh words?
Wh words are words spelled with the consonant digraph wh, such as what, when, where, why, which, whale and wheel. In most American English, wh sounds the same as w, so the main job for a child is learning which words use the wh spelling. Wh comes at the beginning of a word or word part, never at the end, and in a small group of words, who, whom, whose and whole, it says /h/ instead.
- Most American speakers say wh as /w/: whale and wail sound the same.
- Some speakers, especially older speakers and some in the South, still pronounce wh with a puff of air, /hw/.
- Five of the most common question words start with wh: what, when, where, why and which.
- In who, whom, whose and whole, wh says /h/.
About wh words
For most children in the United States, wh sounds exactly like w: when rhymes with ten and starts like wet. Some speakers still breathe out a little puff before the w, so which and witch sound different, but for most families today they sound the same. That means wh is mainly a spelling pattern. Reading it is easy once the child knows to say /w/; the harder part is remembering to write wh, not w, in words like when and white.
The question words are the best place to start, because children use them constantly and meet them in almost every early book: what, when, where, why and which. When is fully decodable (wh-e-n), and which is too once ch is known. What, where and why have vowel spellings that do not follow the short-vowel rules, so many programmes also teach them as sight words. The other words on the list, such as whip, whiz, whale and wheel, are good for practising wh with sounds the child already knows.
Wh only appears at the start of a word, or at the start of a word part in compounds like somewhere and nowhere. It never ends a word. The one group to teach separately is who, whom, whose and whole, where wh says /h/. These are common, so they are worth learning as a small set, and it helps to point out that the o in who and whose also does not make its usual sound.
Wh words in sentences
Decodable sentences: every word can be sounded out with the patterns on this page, plus a few very common words.
- When is lunch?
- What is in the white box?
- Where is the whale?
- Why did the wheel stop?
- Which whisk is in the dish?
- Who can whistle a song?
- I whisper to my pet cat.
- Whose hat is on the wheel?
- The kitten has a white whisker.
Common mix-ups with wh words
Writing w for wh
Because wh and w sound the same for most speakers, children often write wen for when and wite for white. Practise the question words as a set, and remind your child that most question words start with wh.
Wh and h (who and what)
Who, whose and whole say /h/, while what and when say /w/. Put who and what on cards side by side, read them together, and keep the /h/ words in their own small group so they do not unsettle the rule.
Mixing up question words
What, when, where and which look alike and are often swapped in reading. Link each one to its meaning: what is a thing, where is a place, when is a time, which is a choice. Picture cards for each help.
Wh words activities
Question word detective
Write what, when, where, why and which on cards. Ask your child a question aloud, such as where is your shoe, and have them hold up the matching wh card before answering.
Feather puff test
Hold a small feather or tissue in front of the mouth and say whale, then wail. For most speakers nothing changes, which shows that wh and w are the same sound; children enjoy testing the grown-ups too.
Wh or w spelling sort
Say words aloud: when, wet, white, win, whip, wig. Your child decides whether each word is written with wh or w and places it in a bucket, then checks the spelling on the card.
Whisper reading
Read the wh words on the list in a whisper, tracing the wh with a finger each time. Whisper is on the list, so finish by writing it in sand and reading it aloud.
Wh words: frequently asked questions
What are the wh question words?
What, when, where, why, which, who, whose and whom. How is a question word too, but it is not spelled with wh.
Do wh and w sound the same?
For most American speakers, yes: whale and wail, which and witch sound alike. Some speakers pronounce wh with a small puff of air, so they hear a difference.
Why does who start with wh but say h?
The spelling of who is very old; the pronunciation changed over time while the spelling stayed. Who, whom, whose and whole are the main words where wh says /h/.
Can wh come at the end of a word?
No. Wh only appears at the start of a word, or at the start of a part in a longer word, as in somewhere and nowhere.
Practise next
- Th wordsTh is the digraph where the tongue peeks out between the teeth. It has two sounds, the quiet one in thin and the buzzing one in this. Hear every word and try the game.
- Ch wordsCh is the sharp sound in chin and lunch, a bit like a small sneeze. Hear every word, learn when to write tch instead of ch, and try the listening game.
- Sh wordsSh is the quiet sound in ship and fish, the one you make when you ask someone to be quiet. Hear every word, read the sentences, and try the listening game.
- First grade sight wordsThe Dolch first grade list has 41 sight words, such as after, could, every, of, once and were. Hear every word, read the sentences, and play the listening game at the bottom.