Consonant Blends and Digraphs

A consonant blend is a group of two or three consonants that appear together in a word, where each consonant retains its sound. For example, 'bl' in 'black'.

A consonant digraph is a combination of two consonants that create a single sound. For example, 'ch' in 'chair'.

An example of a word with a consonant blend is 'clap', where 'cl' is the blend.

An example of a word with a consonant digraph is 'whale', where 'wh' is the digraph.

The consonant blend 'st' makes the sound /st/, as in the word 'stop'.

The consonant digraph 'sh' makes the sound /ʃ/, as in the word 'ship'.

You can identify a consonant blend in a word by looking for two or three consonants that appear together and each retains its individual sound.

You can identify a consonant digraph in a word by looking for two consonants that appear together and produce a single sound.

The difference is that in a consonant blend, each consonant retains its sound, while in a consonant digraph, the two consonants combine to create a new sound.

The consonant blend in the word 'splash' is 'spl'.