Consonant digraphs are pairs of consonant letters that work together to make one new sound. Early readers meet them in common words like ship, chip, thin, and whale. Learning digraphs helps students read words more smoothly because they stop trying to sound out each letter separately.
The big idea is simple: two letters can make one sound.
Key Facts
- A consonant digraph is 2 consonant letters that make 1 sound.
- s + h = /sh/, as in ship.
- c + h = /ch/, as in chip.
- t + h = /th/, as in thin.
- w + h = /wh/, as in whale.
- In a digraph, 2 letters → 1 sound.
Vocabulary
- Consonant
- A consonant is a letter sound made by blocking or partly blocking air, such as b, t, s, or m.
- Digraph
- A digraph is two letters that work together to make one sound.
- Sound
- A sound is what you hear when a letter or group of letters is spoken.
- Blend
- A blend is two or more consonants together where each letter sound can still be heard.
- Word
- A word is a group of letters that has meaning when we read or say it.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Reading sh as /s/ then /h/ is wrong because sh works together to make one new /sh/ sound.
- Calling every two consonants a digraph is wrong because some pairs are blends, where both sounds can still be heard, like st in stop.
- Skipping the h in ch, th, sh, or wh is wrong because the h helps change the sound of the first letter.
- Using the same sound for th in every word can be confusing because th can sound different in words like thin and this.
Practice Questions
- 1 Circle the digraph in each word and count how many digraphs there are: ship, chip, thin, whale.
- 2 Write 2 words that begin with sh, 2 words that begin with ch, and 1 word that begins with th. How many words did you write in all?
- 3 Explain why sh in ship is a digraph but st in stop is not a digraph.