Digraphs

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Digraph

A digraph is a single sound, or phoneme, which is represented by two letters. A trigraph is a phoneme which consists of three letters. However, many people will simply use the term 'digraph' generally to describe both combinations. In digraphs, consonants join together to form a kind of consonant team, which makes a special sound. For instance, "p" and "h" combine to form "ph", which makes the /f/ sound as in phonemic.

When two or more consonants appear together and you hear each sound that each consonant would normally make, the consonant team is called a consonant blend. For instance, the word blend has two consonant blends: "bl", for which you hear the sounds for both "b" and "l", and "nd", for which you hear the sounds for both "n" and "d".

Digraphs

ch, which makes the /tʃ/ sound as in watch, chick, chimpanzee, and champion
ck, which makes the /k/ sound as in chick
ff, which makes the /f/ sound as in cliff
gh, which makes the /g/ sound as in ghost and ghastly
gn, which makes the /n/ sound as in gnome and gnarled
kn, which makes the /n/ sound as in knife and knight
ll, which makes the /l/ sound as in wall
lm, which makes the /m/ sound as in palm and calm
mb, which makes the /m/ sound as in lamb and thumb
ng, which makes the /ŋ/ sound as in fang, boomerang, and fingerprint
ng, which makes the /nʤ/ sound as lounge
nk, which makes the /ŋk/ sound as in ink, sink and rink
ph, which makes the /f/ sound as in digraph, phone, and phonics
qu, which makes the /kw/ sound as in quick
sh, which makes the /ʃ/ sound as in shore, shipwreck, shark, and shield
ss, which makes the /s/ sound as in floss
ss, which makes the /ʃ/ sound as in pressure and mission
th, which makes the /θ/ sound as in athlete, bathtub, thin, and thunderstorm
th, which makes the /ð/ sound as in this, there, and that
wh, which makes the /w/ sound as in where and which
wr, which makes the /r/ sound as in write
zz, which makes the /z/ sound as in fuzz and buzz

Trigraphs

chr, which makes the /kr/ sound as in chrome and chromosome
dge, which makes the /ʤ/ sound as in dodge and partridge
tch, which makes the /tʃ/ sound as in catch, match

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