WH, PH and CH Digraph Variations in Australian Phonics
CH makes three different sounds. PH spells /f/ in Greek-origin words. WH is /w/ in Australian English with a handful of exceptions. Teaching these variations explicitly prevents systematic decoding errors in Year 2 and beyond.
Used by teachers in NSW · VIC · QLD · WA · SA · ACT
The phonics concept
Understanding Digraph Variations
English spelling maps sounds to letters, but one digraph can represent more than one phoneme. The ch, ph, and wh digraphs all have variant pronunciations that students encounter from Year 2 onwards. Teaching these variations explicitly — with examples and word-origin context — prepares students for the full range of English spelling patterns.
CH: three sounds, three origins
The digraph ch has three distinct pronunciations in English, each associated with a different word origin. The default /ch/ sound (chat, chin, lunch, children) comes from Old French and Middle English. The /k/ pronunciation (school, chorus, stomach, Christmas, character) comes from Greek, and is common in science and content-area vocabulary. The /sh/ pronunciation (chef, machine, parachute, brochure) comes from Modern French. Students who learn all three variants can decode a significantly wider range of words than those who only know the default. At SoundSnapp, digraph practice at /play covers ch in all its pronunciation contexts.
PH: the Greek-origin /f/ digraph
The digraph ph represents /f/ in words of Greek origin. Phone, photo, graph, dolphin, alphabet, pharmacy, trophy, sphere, elephant, and biography all use ph for /f/. This pattern is especially common in content-area vocabulary: geography, photography, physics, philosophy, and autobiography are all year-level appropriate words from Year 3 onwards that students can decode once ph-as-/f/ is secure. Ph is best taught alongside other /f/ graphemes (f, ff, gh) as an alternative spelling for the same phoneme, not as a separate isolated rule.
WH: /w/ in Australian English, with /h/ exceptions
In Australian English, wh represents /w/ in almost every common word: when, where, what, which, while, wheel, and wheat. The historical /hw/ sound that wh once represented has merged with /w/ in Australian English, so the two graphemes w and wh now represent the same phoneme. The key exceptions are who, whose, whole, and whom, where wh represents /h/. Teaching wh-as-/w/ as the primary rule with explicit flagging of the /h/ exceptions is accurate for Australian students and prevents the confusion that arises from teaching wh and w as if they always differ in pronunciation.
Teaching digraph variations in the Australian Curriculum
The Australian Curriculum: English explicitly requires students to recognise and use alternative graphemes for phonemes from Year 2 onwards. Digraph variations such as ch-as-/k/ and ph-as-/f/ are part of the grapheme-phoneme correspondence knowledge that extends beyond the basic code. The curriculum also connects grapheme variation to word origin knowledge from Year 3, providing a morphological and etymological explanation for many of the spelling patterns students encounter. Teaching digraph variations explicitly, with examples and origin context, aligns directly with both the phonics and vocabulary strands of the Australian Curriculum.
All variants
CH, PH and WH Variants at a Glance
Each variant is listed with its sound, word origin, and representative examples at the appropriate year level.
ch = /ch/
English/French
Foundation-Year 1
ch = /k/
Greek
Year 2-3
ch = /sh/
French
Year 2-4
ph = /f/
Greek
Year 2
wh = /w/
Old English
Foundation-Year 1
wh = /h/
Old English (exception)
Year 1-2 (exception)
Practice modes
How SoundSnapp Supports Digraph Variation Teaching
Digraph Practice at /play
SoundSnapp's practice modes at /play cover digraph words with Australian-accented ElevenLabs audio throughout. Students hear the correct pronunciation of digraph variation words (including ch-as-/k/ and ph-as-/f/ examples) modelled in the same accent as their own speech. No logins, any device, free forever.
- Digraph words with Australian-accented audio
- ElevenLabs voices for accurate phoneme modelling
- Covers wh, ph, and ch in context
- Hear & Find and Find the Sound modes for digraph practice
- No logins or setup required
Assessment Mode
Tracks phoneme identification accuracy across digraph words, revealing which students have not yet secured the default digraph sounds — a prerequisite for introducing digraph variations. Identifies the precise gap before variation teaching begins.
- Per-student digraph phoneme accuracy
- Identifies default digraph gaps before variation teaching
- Progress tracking across digraph introduction sequence
- Progress data across sessions
- 7-day free trial
Pricing
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Whiteboard Mode
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- Whiteboard Mode for whole-class teaching
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- Foundation-Year 6 practice sets
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- Dyslexia-friendly font included
Questions & answers
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the three sounds of the ch digraph?
The digraph ch can represent three different phonemes in English. Its most common sound is /ch/ as in chat, children, and lunch. This is the sound students learn first and the one that applies to the vast majority of common words. The second sound is /k/, which appears in words borrowed from Greek: chorus, school, Christmas, character, stomach, and chaos. This ch-as-/k/ pattern is common in content-area vocabulary from Year 2 onwards and in Greek-origin science and humanities words. The third sound is /sh/, appearing in words borrowed from French: chef, machine, parachute, and brochure. The French-origin /sh/ pattern is less common than the Greek-origin /k/ pattern but appears in words students encounter across Years 2-6. Understanding that ch has three sounds prevents students from over-applying the default /ch/ pronunciation to every word containing this digraph.
What sound does ph make and when do students learn it?
The digraph ph represents the phoneme /f/. Examples include phone, photo, graph, dolphin, alphabet, pharmacy, and trophy. The ph-as-/f/ pattern is predominantly found in words of Greek origin, which is why it appears frequently in science, mathematics, and other content-area vocabulary. Ph is typically introduced in Year 2 alongside other alternative graphemes for /f/ (such as ff in off and gh in rough). Students who understand that ph equals /f/ can decode a significant range of content-area words that might otherwise appear unpredictable. The word elephant becomes straightforward once students know ph-as-/f/, as does the word photograph, sphere, and biography.
Does wh always make the /w/ sound in Australian English?
In Australian English, the digraph wh represents the phoneme /w/ in almost all words: when, where, what, which, while, wheel, and wheat all begin with /w/. This is the result of historical sound merger: in Old English, wh was pronounced as a distinct /hw/ sound, but this phoneme merged with /w/ in Australian English varieties. The main exception is the wh-as-/h/ pattern in who, whose, whole, and whom, where historical spelling preserved the wh but the pronounced sound is /h/. Students need to learn these exceptions explicitly. Teaching wh-as-/w/ as the primary rule, with who and its relatives as flagged exceptions, is the most accurate approach for Australian classrooms.
In what order should these digraph variations be taught?
The recommended sequence is to introduce the most common pronunciation of each digraph first, then address the variations once the default is secure. For ch, the /ch/ pronunciation is introduced in Foundation to Year 1. The ch-as-/k/ pattern (Greek-origin words) is introduced from Year 2. The ch-as-/sh/ pattern (French-origin words) is introduced in Year 2-4. For ph, the /f/ pronunciation is typically introduced in Year 2 alongside other /f/ graphemes. For wh, the /w/ pronunciation is introduced in Foundation to Year 1 (alongside w) with the /h/ exceptions flagged explicitly. Spacing the variations allows each rule to consolidate before the next layer of complexity is added.
Give your Year 2–4 students the digraph variation knowledge that unlocks content-area vocabulary.
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