Two letters, one sound
When you read, sometimes two letters work together to make ONE sound. We call this a digraph.
sh
Two letters. One sound: /sh/. Like in ship.
This is different from a blend. In a blend like "st" you can still hear both letters: /s/ /t/. In a digraph you only hear one sound.
Consonant digraphs
The main ones you'll meet in Year 1:
| Digraph | Sound | Example |
|---|
| ch | /ch/ | chip, chat, much |
| sh | /sh/ | ship, fish, wish |
| th | /th/ | thin, moth, that |
| ng | /ng/ | ring, sang, long |
Notice — th in "thin" and th in "this" sound slightly different. Both count as the same digraph.
Vowel digraphs
Two vowels make one long vowel sound:
Trigraphs
Sometimes three letters work together to make ONE sound. That's a trigraph.
Stretch: split digraphs
Sometimes a digraph gets split apart by a consonant in the middle. It still makes one sound!
cake → the a-e still makes a long /ai/ sound
| Split digraph | Example |
|---|
| a-e | cake, name, game |
| i-e | bike, time, mine |
| o-e | bone, home, rope |
| u-e | tune, June, cube |
You meet these later in Year 1 (Phase 5). Don't worry if these feel hard yet!
Quick check!
Read each word aloud. What digraph or trigraph is in it?
Answers: oo, igh, air, sh. How many did you spot? Try the quiz next for 10 more!
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