Understanding and Practicing English Digraphs

If you’ve ever wondered why “phone” starts with a /f/ sound, or why “think” and “this” both begin with “th” yet sound so different – you’re already asking the right questions. English has a quirk that trips up learners at every level: two letters that come together and produce a completely new, single sound. These are called digraphs, and mastering them is one of the most practical steps you can take toward clearer, more confident English pronunciation.

What exactly is a digraph? 🔗

The word digraph comes from the Greek roots di- (meaning “twice”) and -graph (meaning “written”), so it literally means “written twice.” By definition, a digraph describes two consecutive letters that work together to make one single sound – a sound that is typically different from what each letter would produce on its own. For example, “s” has one sound and “h” has another, but together as “sh,” they form the soft, hushing /ʃ/ sound you hear in ship or shower.

This is what makes digraphs different from consonant blends. In a blend like “st” in stop, you can still hear both individual sounds – /s/ and /t/ – separately. In a digraph, those individual letter sounds disappear entirely, replaced by one unified phoneme. In a digraph, the individual sounds merge into a team, creating a sound that neither letter makes alone.

There are two main types: consonant digraphs (formed by two consonants) and vowel digraphs (formed by two vowels, like “ea” in read or “oa” in boat). This post focuses on the seven core consonant digraphs that are most essential for correct English pronunciation and everyday speech.

The 7 digraph sounds and how they work 🔗

The digraphs listed here make sounds that are entirely different from the individual letter sounds blended together. Here is a clear breakdown of each one.

1. CH – the /tʃ/ sound 🔗

CH is one of the most common digraphs in English, and it has three possible sounds depending on a word’s origin. The most common sound is /tʃ/ as in “chair” – a quick combination of /t/ and /ʃ/. In words of Greek origin, it produces a /k/ sound as in “chorus” or “chemistry.” In words of French origin, it sounds like /ʃ/ as in “chef” or “machine.”

In daily conversation, the /tʃ/ sound is what you’ll use most: chair, child, church, chocolate, chop, cheese, catch, watch, much, rich. “CH” is almost always at the beginning of words, such as “chin” and “chop,” though four common words end with this digraph – “much,” “such,” “rich,” and “which.”

2. SH – the /ʃ/ sound 🔗

SH is the most consistent of the seven digraphs – it always makes the same soft /ʃ/ sound. SH makes the /ʃ/ sound in words like: cash, fashion, foolish, rash, shame, shelter, should, shower, trash, and wash. There are no exceptions or alternative pronunciations to memorize, which makes this digraph a great starting point for learners. You’ll find it at the beginning, middle, and end of words, making it one of the most widely distributed digraphs in English.

3. TH – two sounds in one pair 🔗

TH is the most complex of the seven because it produces two distinct sounds – and both appear constantly in everyday English. TH makes two related sounds: the voiceless /θ/ heard in words like “anything,” “author,” “bath,” “breath,” “cloth,” “health,” and “teeth,” and the voiced /ð/ heard in “breathe,” “brother,” “clothing,” “father,” “mother,” “than,” “that,” “the,” “their,” and “they.”

The difference between these two sounds is voicing – whether your vocal cords vibrate. For the voiceless /θ/ (as in think), place the tip of your tongue lightly between your upper and lower teeth and push air out without vibrating. For the voiced /ð/ (as in this), do the same thing but add your voice. This distinction confuses many learners – practicing the physical feel of the difference between voiced and voiceless is key.

4. WH – the /w/ sound 🔗

WH appears in most English question words, which immediately makes it high-priority vocabulary. WH makes the sound /hw/ in words like “what,” “when,” “where,” “which,” and “why,” though it produces an /h/ sound in words like “who” and “whole.” In older English, “wh” carried a distinct “hw” quality, but in most modern dialects, the “h” is now silent, making it simply a /w/ sound. Because it anchors question words – what, when, where, which, why, who – recognizing this digraph immediately improves your conversational fluency.

5. PH – the /f/ sound 🔗

PH is a digraph that catches many learners off guard because it looks nothing like an “f” yet sounds exactly like one. PH makes the sound /f/ in words like: graph, phone, and phonics. This digraph appears most frequently in words borrowed from Greek – think photograph, pharmacy, phrase, phone, physical, elephant, alphabet. Never pronounce “ph” as /p/ + /h/ – it is always just /f/. Keeping that rule firmly in mind prevents one of the most common mispronunciation errors among English learners.

6. GH – silent, /g/, or /f/ 🔗

GH is arguably the most unpredictable digraph in English, and it behaves in three entirely different ways. GH is pronounced /g/ at the beginning of words like “ghost.” At the end of words it is either silent or makes an /f/ sound – as in “cough,” “enough,” “laugh,” “rough,” and “tough.” It is fully silent in “bought,” “caught,” “daughter,” “height,” “light,” “might,” “right,” “sigh,” “sight,” “though,” and “thought.”

Because there is no simple rule that predicts which of the three pronunciations applies, GH words are best learned as vocabulary items. The good news: most of these words are extremely common, so once you know them, they become automatic.

7. NG – the /ŋ/ sound 🔗

NG produces a nasal consonant sound – /ŋ/ – that doesn’t exist as a standalone letter anywhere in the English alphabet. NG makes the /ŋ/ sound in words like: bang, king, long, lung, ring, and sing. There is no other English letter that represents this nasal phoneme, and NG most often occurs at the end of a word – following patterns like -ang, -ing, -ong, and -ung. A critical pronunciation note: do not add a /g/ sound after “ng” at word endings – “sing” is /sɪŋ/, not /sɪŋg/.

Digraphs vs. blends: a quick distinction worth knowing 🔗

Learners frequently mix up digraphs and consonant blends because both involve two-letter combinations. The rule is straightforward: in a digraph, two letters equal one sound (e.g., “sh” in shop), while in a blend, two letters equal two sounds (e.g., “st” in stop). In a blend, you can still hear each individual letter if you slow the word down. In a digraph, those individual sounds are gone – the two letters function as a single phonetic unit.

This distinction also explains why ck – as in duck or clock – is sometimes called a pseudo-digraph: both letters represent the same /k/ sound, so it behaves like a digraph positionally but doesn’t technically create a new sound. The true digraphs covered here – CH, SH, TH, WH, PH, GH, and NG – all produce sounds that differ from what either individual letter makes alone.

Exercises for mastering digraph pronunciation 🔗

Knowing the digraphs is one thing. Being able to produce and recognize them quickly in speech is another. The exercises below move from sound awareness to active speaking practice, building the kind of automatic recognition you need in real conversation.

Exercise 1: Sound sorting 🔗

Read the following words aloud and sort them by their digraph sound. Say each word slowly, identify the digraph, then say it again at natural speed.

• CH words: chair, chest, child, church, peach, march, kitchen, school, chorus
• SH words: shade, shell, wish, fashion, fresh, fisherman
• TH words: thank, three, thought (voiceless) / the, they, breathe, mother (voiced)
• WH words: what, when, where, why, which, whole, who
• PH words: phone, photo, phrase, elephant, trophy
• GH words: ghost, laugh, enough, cough, night, light
• NG words: ring, song, among, strong, hunger, language

The goal is not just to read – it is to feel the digraph in your mouth as one sound. Once you can sort these naturally, your brain starts automatically treating each digraph as a unit.

Exercise 2: Minimal pair contrast for TH 🔗

Because “th” produces two sounds, it needs focused practice. Pronunciation exercises that focus on tongue placement are especially effective for the /th/ sound – the tip of the tongue goes between the teeth, while sounds like /s/ or /d/ keep the tongue behind the teeth. Say these pairs aloud, focusing on the physical difference:

• think / sink – Is your tongue between your teeth for “think”?
• this / dis – Feel the vibration in your throat for the voiced “th” in “this.”
• three / tree – “Three” starts with the tongue touching the teeth, not the roof of the mouth.
• then / den – The voiced /ð/ in “then” versus the hard /d/ in “den.”

Exercise 3: Sentence reading drills 🔗

Read each sentence aloud two or three times. Underline every digraph you spot before you start, then focus on pronouncing it as a single sound unit. Creating drills that target specific sounds by providing lists of words or sentences containing the target sound – and having learners practice them repeatedly, gradually increasing speed – is one of the most effective approaches to pronunciation mastery.

• “She sells fresh fish on the shore.” – SH, SH, SH
• “The phone rang three times before the chef answered.” – TH, PH, TH, CH, NG
• “Which child changed the channel?” – WH, CH, CH, CH, NG
• “The ghost laughed and sang a long song.” – GH, GH, NG, NG
• “Philip photographed a dolphin near the shallow shore.” – PH, PH, PH, SH, SH

Exercise 4: Record and compare 🔗

One of the most effective self-study tools for pronunciation is recording yourself. Always record yourself for best results – you can do this with your phone or laptop. Say a list of digraph words into your recording app, then play it back. Ask yourself: Did the “sh” in sharp sound like one smooth sound or two separate letters? Did you accidentally add a /g/ after “ring”? Did your “ph” words sound like /f/, not /p/?

Comparing your recording against a dictionary’s audio pronunciation (available on most online dictionaries like Merriam-Webster or Cambridge) gives you immediate, objective feedback without needing anyone else in the room.

Exercise 5: Tongue twisters for digraph fluency 🔗

Tongue twisters are a fun and effective way to build fluency with specific sounds at speed. Tongue twisters are challenging exercises that help improve pronunciation and fluency through repeated, rapid production of target sounds. Try these digraph-focused twisters, starting slowly and increasing your pace:

• SH/CH: “She chose to chew fresh cheese and chips.”
• TH: “The thirty-three thieves thought that they thrilled the throne.”
• PH/GH: “Philip’s photograph showed enough of the rough cliff face to be worthy of a trophy.”
• NG: “Singing and ringing are things kings bring along.”

Common mistakes to avoid 🔗

Certain digraph errors are extremely common among English learners and are worth addressing directly before they become habits. Some of the most frequent errors include: pronouncing “ph” as /p/ + /h/ instead of /f/; adding a /g/ sound after “ng” at word endings (“sing” is /sɪŋ/, not /sɪŋg/); confusing the voiced and voiceless “th” sounds; and treating digraphs as two separate sounds rather than one.

For learners whose first language doesn’t contain the /θ/ or /ð/ sounds – which includes speakers of Arabic, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, and many others – the “th” digraph will likely need the most deliberate, physical practice. Touching your tongue lightly to your upper teeth and blowing air is a physical sensation that takes repetition to become automatic. Be patient with this one specifically.

Why mastering digraphs matters beyond reading 🔗

Consonant combinations like “ch,” “sh,” and “th” create unique sounds that are essential not just for reading, but for pronunciation and listening comprehension in English conversation. When you correctly produce and recognize these sounds, you reduce the risk of misunderstandings, sound more natural to native speakers, and become a better listener – because your ear learns to process these sounds as units rather than guessing at two separate letters.

Consonant digraphs are two or more consonants that, together, represent one sound – and they are foundational to decoding English pronunciation accurately, regardless of a learner’s age or level. The English language contains approximately 44 phonemes, and those phonemes can be written in more than 200 letter combinations. Learning to recognize the seven core digraph sounds efficiently cuts through a large portion of that complexity in one go.

Once you’ve internalized CH, SH, TH, WH, PH, GH, and NG as single sound units, you’ll notice them everywhere – in news broadcasts, conversations, song lyrics, and books. Consistent, deliberate practice with the exercises above will move these sounds from something you consciously decode into something you simply hear and produce naturally.

What do you think? Which of the seven digraphs do you find most difficult to produce accurately in conversation, and what do you think makes it harder than the others? If you’ve already been working on your pronunciation, have you noticed any of these digraph sounds becoming more automatic with practice?

References

1. https://www.teachstarter.com/us/blog/what-is-a-digraph-understanding-this-phonics-building-block-2/
2. https://www.fromsoundstospelling.com/blog/blends-and-digraphs-what-are-they-and-how-should-you-teach-them
3. https://www.englishhints.com/digraph.html
4. https://www.onlinemathlearning.com/phonic-sounds.html
5. https://readinguniverse.org/skill-explainer/phonics-patterns/consonant-digraphs-skill-explainer/overview-of-consonant-digraphs
6. https://www.learnenglishsounds.com/en/blog/consonant-digraphs-two-letters-one-sound-english
7. https://smartandspecialteaching.com/terrific-tips-for-teaching-7-digraphs/
8. https://littlelionsliteracy.com/what-is-a-consonant-digraph-in-phonics/
9. https://allesl.com/free-english-pronunciation-exercises/
10. https://www.eslactivity.org/esl-pronunciation/
11. https://www.leonardoenglish.com/blog/10-self-study-pronunciation-activities
12. https://preply.com/en/blog/english-pronunciation-practice/
13. https://irrc.education.uiowa.edu/blog/2020/01/effective-literacy-lesson-teaching-consonant-digraphs
14. https://cindyelkins.edublogs.org/2019/12/21/phonics-part-2-what-are-phonemes-graphemes-blends-digraphs-and-diphthongs/