A digraph is a single sound, or phoneme, which is represented by two letters. A trigraph is a phoneme which consists of three letters. However, many people will simply use the term 'digraph' generally to describe both combinations. In digraphs, consonants join together to form a kind of consonant team, which makes a special sound. For instance, p and h combine to form ph, which makes the /f/ sound as in phonemic.

When two or more consonants appear together and you hear each sound that each consonant would normally make, the consonant team is called a consonant blend. For instance, the word blend has two consonant blends: bl, for which you hear the sounds for both b and l, and nd, for which you hear the sounds for both n and d.

Digraphs

• ch, which makes the /ch/ sound as in watch, chick, chimpanzee, and champion
• ck, which makes the /k/ sound as in chick
• ff, which makes the /f/ sound as in cliff
• gh, which makes the /g/ sound as in ghost and ghastly
• gn, which makes the /n/ sound as in gnome and gnarled
• kn, which makes the /n/ sound as in knife and knight
• ll, which makes the /l/ sound as in wall
• mb, which makes the /m/ sound as in lamb and thumb
• ng, which makes the /ng/ sound as in fang, boomerang, and fingerprint
• nk, which makes the /nk/ sound as in ink, sink and rink
• ph, which makes the /f/ sound as in digraph, phone, and phonics
• qu, which makes the /kw/ sound as in quick
• sh, which makes the /sh/ sound as in shore, shipwreck, shark, and shield
• ss, which makes the /s/ sound as in floss
• th, which makes the /th/ sound as in athlete, toothbrush, bathtub, thin, and thunderstorm
• th, which makes the /th/ sound as in this, there, and that
• wh, which makes the /hw/ sound as in where and which
• wr, which makes the /wr/ sound as in write
• zz, which makes the /z/ sound as in fuzz and buzz

Trigraphs

• chr, which makes the /chr/ sound as in chrome and chromosome
• dge, which makes the /g/ sound as in dodge and partridge
• tch, which makes the /tch/ sound as in catch, match