Consonants – digraphs, trigraphs, hard, soft, blends, silent sounds

Consonants are the letters of the alphabet other than the vowels a e i o u. The ones in the English alphabet are b c d f g h j k l m n p q r s t v w x y z.

In English, some consonants are very picky about their association with others and can only be blended with certain consonants. There are a few that when blended together, they sound similar to other consonants or have one sound. Here is what you need to know.

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Digraphs

A digraph is a single sound that is represented by two letters.

ph – phone, graph, phase, photo

wh – what, when, which, whole, why

sh – sharp, sheep, wish, cushion, wash

ss – passion, session, mission, admission

ch – chain, chef, stomach, church, teach, cheese

gh – rough, tough, cough, laugh, trough, lough

th – that, then, this, thought, thump

wh – whole, white, while, what, which, when, who, why

wr – write, wring, wrong, wrath, wrought, wrung

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Trigraphs

A trigraph is a single sound represented by three letters.

tch – watch, fetch, stitch, notch, butcher

ght – caught, weight, fight, bought, freight

dge – edge, grudge, hedge, ledge

ght – caught, weight, height, bought, daughter

gue – vogue, dialogue, catalogue, monologue, analogue

Here are 17 trigraphs mixed with vowels and consonants.

Grapheme with 4 letters

A grapheme with 4 letters represents one sound in a word. It is referred to as a tetragraph and ‘quadgraph’ by many teachers.

augh – caught, naught, daughter

eigh – eight, weigh, height

ough – through, although, though

ngue – tongue, cangue, gangue

Soft and hard sounds consonants

Soft C sounds like S before ‘e’, ‘i’ or ‘y’ as in cell, city, cycle, cease, cinema, cyclone

Hard C sounds like K before everything else as in cat, cow, call, clown, crab

Soft G sounds like J as in general, giant, gymnastic, generous, ginger, large

Hard G sounds like voiced K (sounded in the throat) as in gum, go, guest, gorilla, grab

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English consonant blends

Here is a breakdown on the common consonant blends,

B blends with L and R

BL – black, bleed, blind, block, blue

BR – brand, bread, brick, brother, brush

C blends with H, L and R

CH – chart, check, child, chocolate, church

CL – clap, clean, climb, clothes, clutter

CR – crab, creep, crib, crown, crumb

D blends with R and W

DR – draw, dream, drill, drop, drum

DW – dwarf, dwell, dwindle

F blends with L and R

FL – flag, flee, flight, floor, flu

FR – fragile, free, frisk, frog, fruit

G blends with L and R

GL – glass, glee, glimpse, glow, glue

GR – grass, great, gripe, grow, grumble

P blends with L and R

PL – play, plea, plight, plough, plug

PR – pray, predator, price, profession, prune

S blends with C, H, K, L, M, N, P, Q, T and W

SC – scare, school, score, scold, scum

SH – share, sheep, ship, shore, shun

SK – skate, skeleton, skip, skull

SL – slap, sleep, slim, slow, slum

SM – smart, smell, smile, smoke, smug

SN – snack, sneak, snicker, snow, snuck

SP – spare, speak, spine, spoon, spun

SQ – squad, square, squeal, squirm, squid

ST – stare, step, stick, stop, sturdy

SW – swap, sweet, swizzle, swollen, swung

T blends with H, R and W

TH – that, their, think, thought, thumb

TR – trap, tremble, trickle, trophy, trust

TW – twerk, twist, twine

Sounds made with digraphs and trigraphs

CH sounds like K – technology, stomach, school, echo, monarch

CK sounds like K – back, deck, pick, lock, truck

GH sounds like F – laugh, cough, rough, tough, draught

XY sounds like Z – xylophone, xylograph

PH sounds like F – phase, phone, phenomenon, phishing

QU sounds like KW – quit, queen, quiet, quite, question

SU sounds like SW – suave, suede, suite

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SH sound is made when some consonants and vowels are blended

CH – chef, champagne, chivalry, machine, brochure

SS – passion, session, mission, pressure, assure

SU – sugar, sure, ensure, surely, insurance

CEA – ocean

CEO – curvaceous

CIE – ancient, sufficient, efficient, deficient

CIA – official, commercial, racial, facial

CIO – precious, suspicious, luscious,

TIA – partial, substantial, potential, essential

TIO – nation, ration, solution, attraction

Silent consonants

B – lamb, debt, limb, doubt, thumb

C – muscle, acquire, scissors, scene

D – handsome, Wednesday

G – gnaw, sign, gnostic, gnu

H – honest, ghost, hour, white, rhyme

GH – taught, weight, fight, thought, highway

K – knock, knee, knight, knife

L – walk, talk, calm, palm, could, should

N – hymn, column, solemn, autumn, condemn

P – psalm, pneumonia, psychic, psychology

S – island, debris, aisle, chassis

T – castle, nestle, listen, asthma

W – wrap, wreath, write, whole, two, answer

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