The wh digraph

All phonics patterns › The wh digraph

What is a consonant digraph?

In a digraph, two letters work together to make a single new sound that neither letter makes on its own. Readers need to be taught explicitly that the pair is one sound, or they will try to blend two.

The wh digraph — word list

Every word below appears in the decodable book on this page, so a reader who practises the list will meet the same words again in context.

• wham
• what
• when
• which
• whiff
• whip
• whips
• whiz

Free decodable book: Decodable Digraph WH

This is an original Lumira decodable reader, written so that a child can sound out nearly every word using patterns they have already been taught. The full text is below — read it here, or open it in the app to read it together with the words highlighting as you speak.

How to teach it

1. Say the sound on its own first, several times, before showing any letters.
2. Show the spelling and name it explicitly — tell the reader what it says rather than asking them to work it out.
3. Blend two or three words from the list together, out loud, slowly.
4. Read the decodable book above, where the pattern repeats in real sentences.
5. Come back to it two or three days later. Cumulative review is what makes it stick.

Lessons that practise this pattern

• Build words: wh digraph

  Read wh as one sound at the start of words

• Word sort: sh, ch, th, wh

  Sort words by their initial consonant digraph

Related consonant digraph patterns

• The ch digraph
• The ch digraph (as in chef)
• The dge digraph
• The ng digraph
• The ph digraph
• The sh digraph
• The tch digraph
• The th digraph

Practise this in Lumira