What is a digraph?
A digraph is two letters that make one sound: sh in ship, ee in tree. (Three letters making one sound, like igh in night, is a trigraph.)
| Consonant digraphs | Vowel digraphs |
|---|---|
| sh, ch, th, wh, ph, ck, ng, qu | ai, ay, ee, ea, oa, ow, ou, oi, oy, ew, ue, ie |
Which one goes where?
| Sound | In the middle of a word | At the end of a word |
|---|---|---|
| ay | ai: rain, train, paint | ay: play, day, away |
| oy | oi: coin, point, noise | oy: toy, enjoy, boy |
| ow | ou: cloud, shout, mouth | ow: cow, now (and brown, town) |
ck or k? tch or ch? dge or ge?
| After a short vowel | Otherwise |
|---|---|
| ck: duck, back, black, sock | k: cloak, week, milk, park |
| tch: catch, kitchen, match | ch: coach, bench, peach |
| dge: bridge, badge, hedge | ge: cage, huge, large |
Watch out! A few common words break the tch rule: much, such, rich, which.
Top tip: listen to the vowel before the sound. A short, quick vowel (like in duck or catch) usually needs the longer spelling.
👆 Spot the right spelling
Tap every word that is spelt correctly.
🔎 Digraph check1 of 5