Ch Digraph Words and Sounds

Ch digraph examples, word lists and free worksheets and games for phonics teaching.

Ch Digraph Sounds

The ‘ch’ digraph is a relatively common grapheme in written English and it can represent 3 different sounds… 

The most common sound associated with the digraph is found in words such as chick, child and much.  The sound is represented by the symbol /ch/ in popular phonics programmes such as Jolly Phonics and Letters and sounds.  The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) symbol for this sound is (). 

This phoneme is actually a combination of two separate sounds that are merged as described in the Sounds American video below.  The video might also be useful if you are teaching non-native English speakers:

The second most frequent sound represented by ‘ch’ is found in words such as Christmas, school and anchor.  This phoneme is usually represented by the letter k in words such as kiss and book.  The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) symbol for this sound is (k).  Many of the words with this sound have their origins in the Greek language.

The other sound represented by ‘ch’ is found in words such as chalet, chef and machine.  This is the same sound as the /sh/ phoneme found in words such as ship and fish and the IPA symbol for this phoneme is (ʃ).  The Sounds American video for ʃ discusses the sound in more detail.

Many of the words where ‘ch’ represents this sound come from the French language.

Teaching the Ch Digraph

Most phonics programmes only teach the most common sound for this digraph in the early stages.  However, we don’t think it’s harmful to mention a few words that children are likely to encounter with the alternative pronunciations of the digraph, such as school and Christmas.  See our article on teaching digraphs for more guidance.

The Little Learner’s video below is useful to show children how to sound out and blend some simple words containing this digraph.  These words are included in phase 3 of the Letters and Sounds phonics programme…

And the video below should also appeal to young children as the popular Mr Thorne teaches Geraldine the giraffe about words with the ‘ch’ digraph:

Ch Digraph Word List

We’ve split the lists into different sound categories in alphabetical order to help you locate words you might want to use with your students. 

Initially, it can help to use words that students are familiar with, but as they get more proficient, it’s good to introduce some new words to expand their vocabulary and refine their decoding skills.

Click on the following link or the image below to download a free printable pdf version of this word list.

Ch Digraph Word list 1Ch Digraph Word list 2

Words containing the /ch/ () sound, as in chop…

One-syllable words with regular spelling patterns and no other digraphs:

Belch, bench, blanch, branch, bunch, chaff, champ, chant, chap, chat, chess, chest, chill, chimp, chin, chips, chit, chomp, chop, chub, chug, chum, chunk, clench, clinch, crunch, drench, finch, flinch, French, hunch, inch, lunch, much, munch, pinch, punch, rich, scrunch, such, trench.

One-syllable words with other digraphs or some irregular spelling patterns:

Arch, beach, beech, birch, bleach, broach, chafe, chain, chair, chalk, char, chard, charm, chart, chase, check, chew, chi, chick, chow, chuck, church, coach, couch, crouch, each, leech, lurch, march, ouch, peach, perch, poach, pooch, pouch, preach, reach, roach, screech, slouch, speech, starch, teach, torch, touch, vouch, which.

Two or more syllable words – may contain other digraphs:

Achieve, achoo, Apache, approach, archer, attach, chapel, children, duchess, ostrich, spinach.

Words containing the/k/ (k) sound as in school…

One-syllable words with regular spelling patterns and no other digraphs:

Chris, loch, mach.

One-syllable words with other digraphs or some irregular spelling patterns:

Ache*, choir, Christ, chrome.

*che is acting as a trigraph in this word.

Two or more syllable words – may contain other digraphs:

Alchemy, anarchy, anchor, arachnid, archaeology, archaic, architect, archive, bronchitis, chameleon, chaos, character, charisma, chasm, chemist, chlorine, chloroform, cholera, chorus, Christmas, chromosome, chronic, chronicle, chrysalis, echidna, echo, epoch, leprechaun, lichen, matriarch, mechanic, melancholy, mocha, monarch, orchestra, orchid, patriarch, scheme, school, schooner, stomach, technology.

Words containing the /sh/ (ʃ) sound as in chef…

One-syllable words with regular spelling patterns and no other digraphs:

Chef.

One-syllable words with other digraphs or some irregular spelling patterns:

Chic, chute, quiche.

Two or more syllable words – may contain other digraphs:

Brochure, champagne, chandelier, chaperone, charade, charlatan, chauffeur, chauvinist, chiffon, chivalry, crochet, echelon, machete, machine, Michigan, nonchalant, parachute, penchant, pistachio, ricochet.

Pseudo-words Containing the Ch Digraph

You will notice that we’ve also included pseudo-words in the word list.  These are sometimes described as non-words or nonsense words and they’re used in some phonics programmes and in the UK Phonics Screening Check

These words are designed to assess whether children are capable of decoding words that are unfamiliar to them. 

Normally, a pseudo-word will be presented next to an image of a monster or an alien, and the child is told that the word represents the creature’s name.  The examples below are from the 2017 phonics screening check.

pseudo words

As you can see, some of the pseudo-words contain digraphs and blends, so we’ve included some example pseudo-words below that contain the ch digraph.  You could use some of these as practice words for a screening check or as part of a less formal assessment of a child’s decoding ability.  Since this digraph can represent 3 different sounds in different words, you could allow any of the 3 alternative pronunciations when children are reading these words.  Some of the words in the list might have a real meaning in some regions, groups or sub-cultures, but they will be unfamiliar to most children so can be used alongside genuine pseudo-words.

Chad, cham, chang, chark, chid, chon, chup, lich, gach.

Ch Digraph Worksheets

We’ve created the following worksheets that you to download for free.  Click on the headings or the images below to access these resources.

Find the Ch Words

Children need to decide which pictures represent words that contain the ch digraph.  They can also try to spell the words.  We’ve also created a PowerPoint version of this resource if you want to display it to a class. 

Find the Ch Words
Circle the ch digraph words and try to spell them

Fill in the Missing Ch Words

Each of the sentences on the worksheet has a word missing that contains the ‘ch’ digraph. Children need to fill in the missing word to complete each sentence. We’ve also created a PowerPoint version of this resource if you want to display it to a class. 

Fill in the missing Ch words
Fill in the missing word to complete each sentence.

Circle the Initial Digraph th, ch, sh

Circle or highlight the digraph that represents the beginning sound for each picture.  

Circle the initial digraph ch, sh, th

Circle the Correct Digraph th, ch, ph, sh

Children have to choose the correct digraph to complete the spelling of each word. 

Circle the correct digraph th, ch, sh, ph

Ch Digraph Phonics Games Online

The spellzone website has some free games using words containing the ch digraph.  They also have a variety of other games that require you to sign up and pay a subscription, but they do offer a free trial.

Click on the following link for the spellzone games:

The Spellingframe website also has a variety of activities for practising spelling ch words.  Like the spellzone website, you have to sign up and pay a subscription to access all of the games

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