Key takeaways
- A digraph is two letters that make one single sound, like the /sh/ in ship or the /ee/ in feet.
- Consonant digraphs (sh, ch, th, wh, ph, ck, ng) come first; vowel digraphs (ai, ee, oa, ea, ay) come later.
- A digraph is not a blend: in a blend you still hear both letters (bl, st), in a digraph you hear one new sound.
- The letters th spell two different sounds: voiced (this, that) and unvoiced (thin, thumb).
- Teach digraphs after students are secure with single-letter sounds and CVC words, usually in kindergarten and first grade.
A digraph is two letters that work together to spell one sound. The word comes from the Greek di (two) and graph (written), so it literally means "two written" letters for one phoneme. When a child reads ship, the s and h do not say /s/ and /h/ separately — together they make a brand-new sound, /sh/.
Digraphs matter because English is full of them. Once students can blend single sounds into CVC words like cat and pin, digraphs are usually the next step. Without them, a reader gets stuck the moment a word like fish, chin, or rain appears — and those words show up on the very first pages of most decodable books.
The two types of digraphs
There are two families. A consonant digraph is two consonants that make one consonant sound — sh, ch, th, wh, ph, ck, and ng. A vowel digraph (sometimes called a vowel team) is two vowels — or a vowel and a partner letter — that make one vowel sound, such as ai, ay, ee, ea, oa, oo, and ow.
Most phonics programs teach the consonant digraphs first because they are more consistent, then move to vowel teams, which have more exceptions (for example, ea says its long sound in bead but its short sound in bread).
sh
One /sh/ sound. Examples: ship, shop, brush, fish, wish, shell.
ch
One /ch/ sound. Examples: chip, chat, lunch, bench, much, chest.
th
Two sounds — voiced (this, that, them) and unvoiced (thin, thumb, bath).
wh
Usually /w/. Examples: when, whip, wheel, white, whale, which.
ph
Says /f/. Examples: phone, graph, dolphin, photo, alphabet.
ck
Says /k/ after a short vowel at the end of a word: duck, sock, back, pick.
ng
The nasal /ng/ sound at the end: ring, song, king, long, bang.
ai / ay
Long a vowel team. Examples: rain, train, sail; play, day, tray.
Digraph vs. blend vs. trigraph
The single most common mix-up is confusing a digraph with a blend (also called a consonant cluster). In a blend, each letter keeps its own sound and you hear them run together quickly — bl in black, st in stop, fr in frog. In a digraph, the two letters give up their sounds and make one new sound instead.
A trigraph takes the same idea one step further: three letters, one sound — igh in night, tch in catch, and dge in bridge. Naming these clearly helps students know how many sounds to listen for when they spell.
| Term | How many letters | How many sounds | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| Digraph | 2 | 1 new sound | ship, chin, thumb, phone |
| Blend | 2 or 3 | Each letter still heard | black, stop, frog, split |
| Trigraph | 3 | 1 sound | night, catch, bridge |
| Split digraph | 2 (with a letter between) | 1 long vowel sound | cake (a_e), bike (i_e), home (o_e) |
How to teach digraphs, step by step
- 1
Check the prerequisites
Make sure students can say each single letter sound and blend CVC words like cat and pin. Digraphs build on that foundation, so teach them once decoding is solid — typically late kindergarten into first grade.
- 2
Introduce one digraph at a time
Start with sh because it is common and easy to feel. Say the sound, show the two letters, and give a picture cue (a finger to the lips for the quiet /sh/). Add ch, then th, then wh over following lessons.
- 3
Hear it before you read it
Play sound-sorting games: say ship, chop, and shell and have students show a card when they hear /sh/. Phonemic awareness before print helps students map the new sound to the letters.
- 4
Blend and read words
Move to decodable words: sh-i-p, ch-a-t, th-i-n. Read short lists, then decodable sentences so the digraph appears in real reading, not just in isolation.
- 5
Build and spell
Use magnetic letters or an Elkonin sound box, treating the digraph as one box. Dictate words like fish, chip, and bath so students spell the sound with two letters.
- 6
Review and mix
Once several digraphs are taught, sort and contrast them (sh vs ch vs th) and revisit them in word searches, bingo, and decodable texts so the skill sticks.
Digraph word lists you can use tomorrow
Keep these lists handy for word sorts, dictation, and quick reading practice:
- sh: ship, shop, shell, brush, wish, fish, cash, shut
- ch: chip, chat, chin, lunch, bench, much, rich, chest
- th (unvoiced): thin, thick, thumb, path, bath, math, moth
- th (voiced): this, that, them, then, with, mother, brother
- wh: when, whip, wheel, white, whale, which, wheat
- ph: phone, graph, photo, dolphin, alphabet, elephant
- ck: duck, sock, back, pick, rock, luck, black
- ng: ring, song, king, long, bang, sing, strong
- vowel teams (ai/ay): rain, train, sail, paint, play, day, tray, stay
A quick classroom win: turn any of these lists into a word search or a set of bingo cards so students see the digraphs again in a low-stress game.
Turn any digraph list into ready-to-print practice
Generate leveled digraph worksheets, word lists, and activities in minutes instead of building them by hand.
Generate digraph worksheets with AIFrequently asked questions
A digraph is two letters that make one sound. In ship, the s and h do not say their own sounds — together they make a single /sh/ sound.
In a digraph the two letters make one new sound (sh, ch, th). In a blend you still hear each letter, just run together quickly, like bl in black or st in stop.
The most common are sh, ch, th, wh, ph, ck, and ng. Most phonics programs teach sh, ch, th, and wh first because they appear so often in early reading books.
Teach consonant digraphs first (sh, ch, th, wh) once students can blend CVC words, then move to vowel teams like ai, ee, and oa, which have more exceptions.
The letters th spell two different sounds: a voiced sound as in this and that, and an unvoiced sound as in thin and thumb. Both are single digraph sounds.