The short answer
A phoneme is a sound you hear. A grapheme is the letters that write one sound down in a word. A digraph is a grapheme made of two letters, like sh. A phonogram is a letter or letter team taught as a fixed card, with all of its sounds learned together. So in sheep there are three phonemes, /sh/ /ē/ /p/, written with three graphemes, sheep, and two of those graphemes, sh and ee, are digraphs.
If you only need one of these words, it's phonogram: it's the one that changes how your child reads and spells. The background on that is in What is a phonogram?. This page is the side-by-side comparison of all the terms you'll see in school newsletters and reading reports.
Digraph vs phonogram vs phoneme vs grapheme, compared
| Term | What it is | Hear it or see it? | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Phoneme | One sound in spoken words. | Hear | /sh/, /ē/ and /p/ in sheep |
| Grapheme | The letter or letters that write one phoneme in a particular word. | See | sh, ee and p in sheep |
| Phonogram | A letter or letter team taught as one card, with every sound it can make. | See | ee (one sound), ea (three), ough (six) |
| Digraph | Two letters that make one sound. | See | sh, ch, ck, ee, ai, ph |
| Trigraph | Three letters that make one sound. | See | igh in night, dge in bridge |
| Quadgraph | Four letters that make one sound. | See | eigh in weigh, ough in though |
| Split digraph | A vowel and a silent e with a consonant between them. | See | a-e in cake, i-e in bike |
| Blend | Two or three consonants side by side, each still heard. | Both | bl in black, str in string |
| Diphthong | A vowel sound that glides from one shape to another. | Hear | the /oy/ in boy, the /ow/ in cow |
The quick test: if you're talking about something you hear, it's a phoneme (or a diphthong). If you're talking about letters on the page, it's a grapheme, and digraph, trigraph and quadgraph just say how many letters that grapheme has.
What is the difference between a phoneme and a grapheme?
A phoneme is sound; a grapheme is spelling. English has around 44 phonemes, depending on accent, but far more graphemes, because most sounds can be written more than one way. The /ā/ sound alone is written a in navy, ay in day, ai in paint, ea in break, ey in they, ei in veil and eigh in weigh.
It works the other way too: one grapheme can stand for different phonemes. ch is /ch/ in much, /k/ in school and /sh/ in chef. Sounding out means going from graphemes to phonemes (reading); spelling means going from phonemes to graphemes (writing).
What is a digraph?
A digraph is two letters that make one sound. The two letters lose their usual sounds and make a new one together: sh isn't /s/ plus /h/, and ph isn't /p/ plus /h/. In ship, four letters make three sounds: ship. Spotting the digraph first is what lets a child read the word correctly.
Schools often sort them into kinds. Here are the main ones, using the letter teams from the 70 phonograms:
- Consonant digraphs: sh, th, ch, wh, ck, ng, ph.
- Silent-letter digraphs, where one letter makes no sound of its own: kn in knot, wr in wrap, gn in sign, gu in guess.
- Vowel digraphs: ee, ea, ai, ay, oa, oe, oo, ow, ou, oi, oy, ew, ui, ie, ei, ey, aw, au.
- R-controlled vowels, where the r changes the vowel: ar, er, ir, ur, or.
- The /sh/ teams found in longer words: ti in nation, si in session, ci in facial.
Is every digraph a phonogram?
Mostly, but the two words cover slightly different ground. Of the 70 phonograms, 26 are single letters (with qu standing in for q), 38 are two-letter teams, 4 are three-letter teams (wor, ear, igh, dge) and 2 are four-letter teams (ough, eigh). So every phonogram is a grapheme, but only some are digraphs. Here's how common examples sort out:
| Letters | Digraph? | One of the 70 phonograms? |
|---|---|---|
| sh, ee, ck | Yes | Yes |
| a, s, t | No, single letters | Yes |
| igh, dge | No, three letters (trigraph) | Yes |
| ough, eigh | No, four letters | Yes |
| qu | Often called one, but it writes two sounds, /k/ /w/ | Yes |
| bl, st, tr | No, blends: both sounds are heard | No, each letter is its own phonogram |
| a-e in cake | Called a split digraph in many programmes | No: a says /ā/ and the silent e follows a rule |
| tch in catch | A trigraph in many programmes | No: written with t and ch |
The bigger difference is in how they're taught. A list of digraphs usually gives each one its most common sound. A phonogram is learned with every sound it makes, in a fixed order: ea is /ē/ in eat, /ĕ/ in head, /ā/ in break. When the first sound doesn't make a real word, your child already knows what to try next. The full set, with every sound, is on the 70 phonograms chart.
What about split digraphs and blends?
Split digraph (sometimes "magic e" or "vowel-consonant-e") is the name many schools use for the pattern in cake, bike, home and cube: a vowel and an e, split by one consonant, that together make the vowel say its name. If your child's class talks about a-e or i-e, that's what they mean. With the 70 phonograms, the same words are explained a little differently: the vowel is a single phonogram making its long sound, and the final e is silent for a reason set out in a spelling rule. Both approaches lead to the same reading of cake.
Blends are often confused with digraphs because both are letters side by side. The test is to listen. In black, you hear /b/ and /l/: a blend. In ship, you don't hear /s/ or /h/ at all: a digraph. Words can have both: splash starts with the blend spl and ends with the digraph sh.
Which words will your child's school use?
It depends on the programme. Many Australian, UK and US schools talk about phonemes, graphemes and digraphs, and children as young as five learn to say "sh is a digraph". Schools that teach from a phonogram chart use phonogram for every letter or letter team. You don't need to pick a side at home: if your child's report says they're working on "vowel digraphs", that's ee, ai, oa and friends; if it says "phonograms", it's the whole set. The skill underneath is the same: spot the letter team, say its sound, push the sounds together.
Questions parents ask
What is a digraph?
A digraph is two letters that together make one sound, like sh in ship, ee in see or ck in duck. You can't hear the two letters separately: sh is not /s/ plus /h/. Three letters making one sound, like igh in night, is a trigraph.
What is the difference between a phoneme and a grapheme?
A phoneme is a sound you hear, like the /ē/ sound in see. A grapheme is the letter or letters that write that sound down in a particular word, like ee in see or ea in eat. One phoneme can have several graphemes, and one grapheme can stand for more than one phoneme.
Is a digraph the same as a phonogram?
Not quite. Most two-letter phonograms are digraphs, like sh, ee and ck. But phonograms also include single letters (a, s, t), three-letter teams (igh, dge) and four-letter teams (ough, eigh). A phonogram is learned with all of its sounds at once, so ea is one phonogram with three sounds.
What is a split digraph?
A split digraph is the name many programmes give to a vowel and a silent e with a consonant in between, like a-e in cake or i-e in bike. With the 70 phonograms it's taught differently: the a in cake is the single letter a saying its second sound, /ā/, and the silent e is explained by a spelling rule.
Is bl a digraph?
No. In bl, as in black, you can hear both sounds, /b/ and /l/, so it's a consonant blend, not a digraph. A digraph makes one new sound; a blend is two or three sounds said quickly together, like bl, st, tr or str.