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The Comparison Corner: What are Blends and Digraphs and How Should we Teach Them?

Text says "The Comparison Corner Blends vs. Digraphs with images of letter tiles representing blends and digraphs around it

Blends and digraphs are two phonics terms that I’ve seen commonly confused. The confusion seems to stem from the fact the fact most include two consonants together. However, the difference between them comes from the number of phonemes those letters represents. It’s the number of phonemes that makes teaching both correctly so important. Let’s take a look at blends and digraphs and instructional implications based on their differences.

What are Blends?

Blends are clusters of two or more consonants that come together within a word. The sound of each letter is present within the word, though they tend to merge together a bit as they are articulated. Blends can be in initial or final positions within a syllable, though some blends can only be present in one of those positions. They tend to be identified or classified by their first or second consonant. Some of the most common blends are “s blends” such as in snake, slip, stack, or fast. Or “l” and “r” blends such as in flake, pluck, grip, and train.

Some phonics programs explicitly teach blends by these categories. One of the most popular methodologies for teaching students with dyslexia or other difficulties learning phonics focuses on teaching each blend. However, I’m in the camp of believing that blend is a verb. We blend sounds in words to read them and most blends don’t need our explicit instruction. We need our students to be able to read words with blends, but we build that skill through phonemic awareness instruction, not explicit phonics instruction. Because each sound is articulated in the word and represented in the phonemes, it’s not worth the time to teach most blends explicitly.

With that said, there are a couple blends I think it’s important that we do explicitly teach students because of our pronunciation of them. Can you guess which blends those are?

tr and dr

Let’s take the word “truck”.  When we say the word, truck sounds like a “chr” at the beginning. This is due to our mouth placement for both sounds. It’s not an improper pronunciation; it’s just the way we pronounce it.

An image of a blends and digraphs activity on an ipad. In the activity students build the word using given letter tiles with each tile representing one sound in order to build the word truck.

You can also use the word dress as an example of the sounds for “dr”. Dress sounds like it  begins with a “j” or a “jr”.

Students need to be explicitly taught that when they make these sounds, it’s actually tr and dr. I just tell the students that we never use those letter combinations together so when they say those sounds, it’s spelled with tr and dr. Even though our pronunciation is different it’s important to note we don’t need to emphasize an atypical pronunciation for those words that begin with those sounds. However, we need to teach students that when we feel like we’re making those sounds we don’t spell it with a “chr” or a “jr” but with a “tr” and a “dr”.

Have students struggling with blending sounds within words? Especially words with blends that have additional sounds? Continuous blending and/or successive blending might be helpful strategies for them.

Looking for resources for practicing reading and writing words with blends? I have many different resources from word building, to blending slides, to fluency activities. See all of my consonant blends resources in my TpT store.

What are digraphs?

A digraph, however, is when we have two letters that come together to make one, and only one, sound. Some of the most common consonant digraphs are combinations like “sh”, “ch”, “th”, and “ck” or “qu”. We also have many vowel digraphs such as “ai” and “ay” that both are spellings for the long vowel sound a. Many consonant digraphs, such as those listed above, are commonly occurring and are taught early in a students’ phonics instruction. Others, such as those with “silent letters” like “kn” and “gn” occur less frequently and are taught much later. Digraphs require explicit instruction as we support students in learning to read and spell with those letter combinations.

Image of a laptop on a student's desks with mechanical pencils on the side. On the laptop is the word "sack" in colors with an arrow demonstrating complete continuous blending of the word.

I have many resources practicing consonant digraphs as well, including many free options. You can check out all of my Consonant Digraphs Resources in my TpT store, or you can click to access the free resources linked below by clicking on their cover.

Digraph phoneme grapheme mapping digital activity Digraphs phoneme-grapheme mapping digital resources for centers

Some Tricky Blends and Digraphs

There are a couple specific cases where there are mixed opinions on blends and digraphs. I think it’s important to not get too hung up on these. When teaching them with my students, I again focus on the number of phonemes that correspond.

qu- Some people say that qu is a digraph, but other people say it’s a blend. Because there are two sounds present I lean more towards the blend camp. But, I don’t teach either to my students. We just focus on there being two sounds made when those letters are represented.

ng– These letters are a digraph because they represent just one sound.  Think of words like ring and sang. In these words, we have the nasalized n sound produced rather than the typical n sound that is produced with the tongue on the roof of your mouth. This is one I’ve personally struggled with as I feel I articulate the /g/ sound in words with “ng”.

nk- These letters are a blend because they represent two sounds. Think of words like bank and think. In these words, we have the nasalized /ng/ as with the words above making one sound, and the final /k/ as another. I personally feel like I say these words the same as words with an ng with just the /g/ and /k/ difference.

These two skills are frequently taught as “welded” or “glued” sounds for this reason – and also because of their effect on the connecting vowel sound.

Understanding the difference between blends and digraphs ensures we are teaching them properly with our students and supporting them as they’re learning to read. Are there any other terms you would like to see me define and compare in the series? Leave a comment below and let me know!

"The Comparison Corner" text along top left with words "Blends vs. Digraphs" in the middle. Arranged around the text are letter tiles representing various blends and digraphs.

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