What Are Digraphs? Definition and Examples

The way we spell and pronounce parts of a word in English often comes down to the digraph(s) it contains.

These digraphs are present in the words we use every day. The ch in cheese, ea in bread, or the kn in knee are digraphs. 

But what exactly is a digraph? The concept is too small to explain in the intro, so you’ll have to read the entire article.

By the end of this article, you’ll know what digraphs are in their entirety, how to teach them, and spot them in a sea of sounds.

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Key Takeaways

• A digraph is a pair of letters that represents a single sound.

• There are two main types: consonant digraphs and vowel digraphs.

• Silent digraphs don’t contribute to pronunciation but still appear in spelling (think: gn, kn, mb).

• Digraphs are introduced early in literacy education, usually around age five.

• Learning to read and spell with digraphs takes repetition, exposure, and the occasional reminder that English doesn’t always follow its own rules.

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Let’s begin.

Definition of a Digraph

A digraph is when two letters come together and make a single sound. 

It might look like a regular pair of letters at first, but they don’t behave like individual sounds anymore. 

The sound made by a digraph is often different from the sounds you’d get if you read the two letters separately. 

Take “sh” in ship. Individually, “s” sounds like /s/ as in sun, and “h” sounds like /h/ as in hat. But together, they don’t keep their original sounds. Instead, “sh” forms a new one, /sh/, which is a completely different phoneme.

But of course, English being English, the above is not always the case. 

We have many digraphs that make the sound of one of the two letters forming that digraph. 

The “ck” in brick, for example, makes the same /k/ sound you’d hear in cat or kite. It still counts as a digraph, though, because those two letters are working together to make just one sound. 

Now, digraphs are usually split into two major groups: consonant digraphs and vowel digraphs. 

When both letters in the pair are consonants, like “ch” or “ck,” we call them consonant digraphs. When the pair is made of vowels, say “ai” or “ea”, they’re called vowel digraphs or vowel teams. 

Approximately, written English includes more than 125 digraphs. Around 75 of those are consonant digraphs, and about 50 are vowel digraphs.

Digraphs vs. Consonant Blends: Key Differences

There’s another concept in English called blends.

A blend is made up of two or more consonants, where each letter keeps its original sound. You can still hear each one clearly when the word is spoken.

The biggest difference between blends and digraphs comes down to how the sounds work. 

Take a word like clap. 

The letters “c” and “l” come right next to each other, but they don’t lose their identities. “C” sounds like /k/ and “l” sounds like /l/, just like they do in cat and log. 

So this blend of “cl” is what we call a consonant blend. 

Now compare that to a word like chat. The “ch” here doesn’t split into a /k/ and /h/ sound. Instead, it forms a new sound altogether, /ch/. That makes it a digraph, because both letters combine to represent one phoneme.

It’s not always black and white like this, though. Some combinations can behave differently depending on where they show up in a word. 

For instance, the letters “ng” usually form a digraph. In words like ring, long, or bang, you don’t hear a clear /n/ followed by a /g/. Instead, it’s one blended sound, /ŋ/. 

However, that changes when “ng” falls between syllables in longer words. If you say danger or fungi out loud, you can pick out the /n/ and /g/ sounds separately. In those cases, “ng” is acting more like a blend than a digraph.

For students working on school projects, the Ask AI tool by Undetectable AI can be a helpful companion. It can help in breaking down concepts like this clearly and quickly.

And if you’re ever unsure about sentence structure, spelling, or grammar along the way, our built-in Grammar Checker can help smooth things out.

Common Consonant Digraphs

Remember the consonant digraphs (two consonants making a single sound) you read about above?

Here’s a digraphs list covering several consonant digraphs (not all) with their examples and the sound they make:

Digraph	Phoneme (IPA)	Sound	Examples	Pronunciation Tips
bb	/b/	“b” as in bat	bubble, ribbon, hobby	Doubled “b” retains a strong /b/ sound.
bt	/t/	“t” as in top	debt, doubt, subtle	Silent “b” (only the /t/ is pronounced).
cc	/k/	“k” as in kite	account, accuse, soccer, hiccup	Usually before “a,” “o,” “u” (hard /k/ sound).
ch	/tʃ/	“ch” as in chip	chair, cheese, church	Most common “ch” sound.
ch	/k/	“k” as in kite	school, chaos, chord, anchor	Found in Greek-derived words.
ch	/ʃ/	“sh” as in shoe	chef, machine, champagne	French/Loanword pronunciation.
ci	/ʃ/	“sh” as in shoe	special, delicious, ancient	Typically before “-tion” or “-ous.”
dg	/dʒ/	“j” as in jump	judge, bridge, fudge, dodgy	Often followed by silent “e.”
gh	/g/	“g” as in goat	ghost, spaghetti, ghoul	Only pronounced at the start of words.
ll	/l/	“l” as in lip	ball, pull, hello	Doubled “l” keeps a clear /l/ sound.
mb	/m/	“m” as in map	comb, thumb, climb	Final “b” is silent.
mn	/m/	“m” as in map	autumn, column, hymn	Final “n” is silent.
ng	/ŋ/	“ng” as in sing	ring, strong, finger	Nasal sound; avoid adding a /g/ after.
ph	/f/	“f” as in fish	phone, dolphin, graph	Always represents /f/ (Greek origin).
ps	/s/	“s” as in sun	psalm, psychology, pseudonym	Silent “p” (Greek-derived words).
rh	/r/	“r” as in red	rhyme, rhythm, rhinoceros	“h” is silent (Greek origin).
sc	/s/	“s” as in sun	science, scene, scissors	Before “e,” “i,” or “y.”
th	/θ/	Unvoiced “th” as in think	thin, math, bath	No vocal cord vibration (soft sound).
th	/ð/	Voiced “th” as in this	that, mother, smooth	Vocal cords vibrate (harder sound).
th	/t/	“t” as in top	thyme, Thailand, Thomas	Rare exceptions (names/loanwords).
sh	/ʃ/	“sh” as in shoe	ship, wish, fashion	Always the /ʃ/ sound.
wh	/w/	“w” as in wet	when, whale, wheel	Standard pronunciation.
wh	/h/	“h” as in hat	who, whole, whose	Only in some words

Common Vowel Digraphs

I briefly touched on vowel digraphs earlier. Let’s look more closely at them now. 

For a recap, a vowel digraph is where the combined letters represent a single vowel sound. 

Typically, a vowel digraph involves at least one vowel letter.

For instance, in the word cow, the sound /ou/ is represented by a vowel-consonant pair.

The same goes for /oi/ in toy and /ar/ in dark. Each of these examples features digraphs that produce vowel sounds, even though they include consonants in the letter pair. 

But this rule isn’t as cut and dry as it sounds.

You’ll come across vowel digraphs where both letters are vowels, either the same vowel or different.

Examples include ai in brain, ou in bounce, oo in book, ee in cheese, and many more.

Vowel digraphs often appear in the middle of words, but that’s not a strict rule either. They can also appear in the beginning (ooze) and at the end (blue).

Here’s a digraphs list containing several vowel digraphs.

Digraph	Phoneme (IPA)	Sound	Examples	Pronunciation Tips
ai	/eɪ/	“ay” as in day	rain, paint, tail	Usually at the start/middle of words.
ay	/eɪ/	“ay” as in day	play, stay, delay	Typically at the end of words.
ea	/iː/	“ee” as in see	eat, tea, dream	Most common sound.
ea	/ɛ/	“eh” as in bed	bread, dead, head	Less frequent; exceptions.
ee	/iː/	“ee” as in see	see, tree, cheese	Always long /ee/ sound.
ie	/iː/	“ee” as in see	thief, field, belief	Usually in the middle of words.
ie	/aɪ/	“eye” as in sky	pie, die, lie	Often at the end of words.
oa	/oʊ/	“oh” as in go	boat, coat, road	Always long /o/ sound.
oe	/oʊ/	“oh” as in go	toe, hoe, foe	Usually at the end of words.
ue	/uː/	“oo” as in moon	blue, clue, true	Often after “g” or “l.”
ui	/uː/	“oo” as in moon	fruit, juice, suit	Common in multisyllabic words.
oo	/uː/	“oo” as in moon	moon, spoon, food	Long /oo/ sound.
oo	/ʊ/	“uh” as in book	book, foot, good	Short /oo/ sound.
ou	/aʊ/	“ow” as in cow	out, house, cloud	Common in one-syllable words.
ou	/ʌ/	“uh” as in cup	young, trouble, country	Exceptions in multisyllabic words.
ow	/aʊ/	“ow” as in cow	cow, now, brow	Often at the end of words.
ow	/oʊ/	“oh” as in go	snow, grow, slow	Less frequent; exceptions.
oy	/ɔɪ/	“oy” as in boy	boy, toy, enjoy	Always at the end of syllables.
oi	/ɔɪ/	“oy” as in boy	coin, voice, oil	Usually in the middle of words.

Another important concept within this category is the split digraph. 

Split digraphs involve two letters that represent a single vowel sound but are separated by a consonant.

The most common structure includes a vowel followed by a consonant, and then an “e” at the end of the word. 

These are sometimes referred to as “magic e” or “silent e” words in early reading programs.

Consider the word rope. The vowel sound /oa/ is represented by the letters “o” and “e,” with the consonant “p” in between.

Similarly, kite contains the long /i/ sound created by the “i” and “e” pair, split by the consonant “t.” 

There are six split digraphs in total, which are given below. However, some variations aren’t covered below.

Refer to this PDF of vowel digraphs for all regular vowel digraphs and split digraphs with all variations.

Digraph	Phoneme (IPA)	Sound	Examples	Pronunciation Tips
a-e	/eɪ/	“ay” as in day	ape, bake, came	Silent “e” makes the “a” long.
e-e	/iː/	“ee” as in see	Eve, Pete, theme	Rare; often in Greek-derived words.
i-e	/aɪ/	“eye” as in sky	bike, dice, hide	Silent “e” makes the “i” long.
o-e	/oʊ/	“oh” as in go	bone, choke, home	Silent “e” makes the “o” long.
u-e	/juː/ or /uː/	“yoo” or “oo”	cute (yoo), duke (yoo), mule (yoo), tube (oo)	Can sound like “yoo” or “oo.”
y-e	/aɪ/	“eye” as in sky	byte, hype, type	Functions like “i-e”; common in tech terms.

Silent Letter Digraphs

In the digraph lists above, you saw many digraphs where one letter was silent. Those were silent letter digraphs.

Silent letter digraphs pair a letter that is pronounced with another that remains silent.

The silent letter’s presence doesn’t affect pronunciation, though it may still influence the way the word is understood, especially in written form.

These silent letters often reflect the history of the language, in which case they show where a sound used to be pronounced but no longer is.

In the word knee, for instance, the combination “kn” forms a digraph where the k is silent. The result is that “kn” is pronounced simply as /n/. Similarly, in write, the “wr” digraph is pronounced as /r/, with the w being silent. 

It’s also worth noting that some of these digraphs don’t always behave consistently. The “gn” digraph, for example, has a silent g in words like sign or align. 

However, in words like signal or ignite, “gn” no longer remains a digraph because the g and n are split across syllables.

For reference, here’s a brief digraph list showing some of the most common silent letter digraphs, along with notes on what’s silent and how to identify them by sound:

Silent Letter Digraphs	What’s Silent	Sound Tip	Examples
kn	k	Sounds like /n/	knee, knock, know
wr	w	Sounds like /r/	write, wrist, wrong. wrench
gn	g (in most cases)	Sounds like /n/, unless syllables split	gnome, sign, align
mb	b	Sounds like /m/ at the end of a word	comb, limb, numb
ck	No distinct silent letter, but forms one /k/ sound	Treat as a digraph for /k/	kick, sock, luck

For students or writers who want extra support breaking these patterns down or just need a quick explanation, Ask AI by Undetectable AI is the go-to tool to clear things up. 

And for day-to-day spelling and writing tasks, the Grammar Checker can catch issues before they become problems.

Digraphs in Early Literacy

Now it’s worth looking at how digraphs are handled in early literacy, in case you’re reading this as a teacher or a parent homeschooling your kids. 

Before children are taught any kind of digraph, they first need to have a solid grasp of individual letter sounds.

That means they should be able to recognize letters on sight and produce their corresponding sounds fluently. 

On top of that, they should be able to blend and segment simple one-syllable words, typically following a consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) pattern.

Skills like these lay the groundwork for understanding more complex sound combinations like digraphs.

The age at which digraphs are introduced can vary from one country to another, but in most cases, it starts early. 

In England, for instance, children are usually introduced to digraphs during the academic year they turn five, which is when they enter reception.

In the United States, the timeline is fairly similar.

Children begin Kindergarten around the same age, and early digraphs are often introduced during that first school year.

Some of the earliest digraphs introduced in classrooms are double consonants like “ff,” “ll,” and “ss.”

These tend to show up during the first term in English schools and help ease children into the idea that two letters can work together to make a single sound. 

As the term progresses, other common consonant digraphs such as “ch,” “sh,” and “th” are added into instruction.

Vowel digraphs tend to follow later in the term or in the following year as children gain more confidence with reading.

By the end of their reception year, many children in the UK will have encountered more than a dozen vowel digraphs.

As they transition into Year 1, typically around age six, they’re introduced to even more vowel and consonant digraphs. 

As for split digraphs, since the letters are split up in the word, it can be harder for children to recognize them as a single sound unit. 

Because of this, split digraphs are generally introduced only after a child has shown that they can confidently read and spell words containing regular digraphs.

For parents, teachers, or students who need extra support with this stage of learning, AI Chat by Undetectable AI can be a helpful tool.

It can generate word lists based on specific digraphs, create printable activities, or help with reading comprehension questions.

Here’s a detailed guide on teaching digraphs.

Digraph Word List by Grade Level

Kindergarten / Reception (Age 4–5)

Digraph Type	Digraphs Introduced (sample)	Example Words	Notes
Consonant Digraphs	ff, ll, ss, zz, etc	puff, bell, mess, buzz	Often introduced early in the year.
Consonant Digraphs	ch, sh, th, wh, etc	chip, shop, this, when	Commonly taught mid-to-late term.
Vowel Digraphs	ai, ee, oa, etc	rain, feet, boat	Introduced toward the end of the year.
Vowel Digraphs	oo (long and short), etc	moon, book	Recognizing sound variation is key.

Grade 1 / Year 1 (Age 5–6)

Digraph Type	Digraphs Introduced (sample)	Example Words	Notes
Consonant Digraphs	kn, wr, gn, ph, mb, etc	knee, write, gnome, phone, comb	Builds on previous knowledge of silent letters.
Vowel Digraphs	ea, ie, ue, oo, ow, etc	leaf, pie, blue, spoon, snow	Digraphs appear in varied vowel sounds.
Vowel Digraphs	ar, or, ir, ur, er, etc	car, corn, bird, fur, her	Covers r-controlled vowels.
Split Digraphs	a-e, i-e, o-e, u-e, e-e, etc	cake, bike, rope, cube, these	Usually introduced after solid digraph grasp.

Grade 2 / Year 2 (Age 6–7)

Digraph Type	Digraphs Reviewed & Extended	Example Words	Notes
Consonant Digraphs	Extend use in multisyllabic words	graphic, whisper, chimney	Reinforces earlier learning in more complex words.
Vowel Digraphs	ow, ou, oy, oi, etc	cow, out, toy, coin	Focus on diphthongs and alternative spellings.
Split Digraphs	Review and apply in new contexts	flute, theme, shine	Introduced only after mastery of regular digraphs.

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Final Thoughts

Digraphs are a simple concept, but due to several types and variations of them, it takes time to learn them fully. 

But once you understand how they work, you’ll spot them in just about every word you read.

And if you need help building custom word lists, printable activities, or planning a reading lesson around digraphs, Undetectable AI’s full suite of AI tools is at your service.

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