Consonant Teams: Consonant Digraphs and Trigraphs

After learning about single letter consonant graphemes and long vowels, students are taught to recognise graphemes that consist of consonant teams. These are graphemes that consist of two or more letters representing a single consonant phoneme.

There are a couple of other terms to learn when teaching consonant teams! A consonant digraph is the term for a two letter consonant team representing a single consonant phoneme, such as the letters ‘ch’ representing the consonant phoneme /tʃ/, as in the word cheese. A consonant trigraph is a three letter consonant team representing a single consonant phoneme, such as the letters ‘tch’, which also represent the consonant phoneme /tʃ/, as in the word catch.

Click on the graphemes next to the mouth animations below to hear the main Consonant Teams in English. They are presented in the order they are taught in ReadingDoctor® Online.

First, students are taught the more common consonant teams:

ch like in cheese:

Also found in words such as chip, champ and teach. The consonant digraph ch represents the consonant phoneme /tʃ/ in these words.

ck like in kick:

Also found in words such as sock, back and stick. The consonant digraph ck represents the consonant phoneme /k/ in these words.

ng like in wing:

Also found in words such as thing, song and lung. The consonant digraph ng represents the consonant phoneme /ŋ/ in these words.

qu like in queen:

Also found in words such as quit, quail and equal. Represents the two consonant phonemes /kw/. Be careful not to say ‘uh’ when you pronounce this one. It should sound like “kww” rather than “kwuh”. Practice imitating what you hear when you press the letters next to the mouth, above. Also note that this letter pattern is not technically a grapheme because it represents more than none phoneme, but it is included here for convenience since it is often taught with the more common consonant digraphs in phonics programs!

sh like in ship:

Also found in words such as shed, shop and wish. The consonant digraph sh represents the the consonant phoneme /ʃ/ in these words.

tch like in catch:

Also found in words such as match, stitch and witch. The consonant trigraph tch represents the the consonant phoneme /tʃ/ in these words.

th like in mouth:

Also found in words such as think, thud and moth. The consonant digraph th represents the consonant phoneme /θ/ in these words.

wh like in white:

After learning about the most common consonant teams, students are taught to decode words, like: