HOMOPHONES AND DIGRAPHS

What Are Homophones?

Homophones are words that sound the same but have different meanings and spellings (ate and eight, for example).

pause/paws
pea/pee
peace/piece
peak/peek/pique
peal/peel
pearl/ purl
pedal/peddle/petal
peer/pier
per/purr
pi/pie
plait/plat
acts/ax
ad/add
ads/adds/adz
aid/aide
ail/ale
air/heir/err
aisle/isle/I'll
all/awl
all ready/already
all together/altogether
allowed/aloud
acts/ax
ad/add
ads/adds/adz
aid/aide
ail/ale
air/heir/err
aisle/isle/I'll
all/awl
all ready/already
all together/altogether
allowed/aloud

WHAT ARE MINIMAL PAIRS

In phonology, minimal pairs are pairs of words or phrases in a particular language that differ in only one phonological element, such as a phoneme, toneme or chroneme[1], and have distinct meanings. They are used to demonstrate that two phones constitute two separate phonemes in the language.

Vowel Sounds
Minimal Pairs /ɪ/ and /i:/ (sit and seat)
Minimal Pairs /e/ and /ɪ/ (desk and disk)
Minimal Pairs /e/ and /eɪ/ (wet and wait)
Minimal Pairs /æ/ and /ʌ/ (bat and but)
Minimal Pairs /əʊ/ and /ɔ:/ (so and saw)
Minimal Pairs /ɒ/ and /əʊ/ (not and note)
Minimal Pairs /æ/ and /e/ (bad and bed)
Minimal Pairs /ɑ:/ and /ɜ:/ (fast and first)

Consonant Sounds
Minimal Pairs /b/ and /v/ (berry and very)
Minimal Pairs /b/ and /p/ (buy and pie)
Minimal Pairs /n/ and /ŋ/ (thin and thing)
Minimal Pairs /l/ and /r/ (alive and arrive)
Minimal Pairs /ʧ/ and /t/ (catch and cat)
Minimal Pairs /s/ and /ʃ/ (sea and she)
Minimal Pairs /f/ and /v/ (fan and van)
Minimal Pairs /f/ and /h/ (fat and hat)
Minimal Pairs /f/ and /θ/ (free and three)
Minimal Pairs /s/ and /θ/ (sing and thing)
Minimal Pairs /ð/ and /z/ (with and whizz)
Minimal Pairs /ʤ/ and /z/ (page and pays)
Minimal Pairs /d/ and /ʤ/ (bad and badge)

Initial Consonant Sounds
Minimal Pairs initial /f/ and /p/ (fast and past)
Minimal Pairs initial /k/ and /g/ (came and game)
Minimal Pairs initial /t/ and /d/ (two and do)
Final Consonant Sounds
Minimal Pairs final /k/ and /g/ (back and bag)
Minimal Pairs final /m/ and /n/ (am and an)
Minimal Pairs final /t/ and /d/ (hat and had)

DIGRAPHS

A digraph or digram is a pair of characters used to write one phoneme (distinct sound) or a sequence of phonemes that does not correspond to the normal values of the two characters combined. The sound is often, but not necessarily, one which cannot be expressed using a single character in the orthography used by the language. Usually, the term "digraph" is reserved for graphemes whose pronunciation is always or nearly always the same.
A digraph is a single sound, or phoneme, which is represented by two letters. A trigraph is a phoneme which consists of three letters. However, many people will simply use the term 'digraph' generally to describe both combinations. In digraphs, consonants join together to form a kind of consonant team, which makes a special sound. For instance, p and h combine to form ph, which makes the /f/ sound as in phonemic.

Two successive letters that represent a single sound (or phoneme).

Common vowel digraphs in English include ai (as in rain), ay (day), ea (teach), ea (bread), ea (break), ee (free), ei (eight), ey (key), ie (piece), oa (road), oo (book), oo (room), ow (slow), and ue (true).

Common consonant digraphs in English include ch (as in church), ch (school), ng (king), ph (phone), sh (shoe), th (then), th (think), and wh (wheel).

Digraphs

ch, which makes the /ch/ sound as in watch, chick, chimpanzee, and champion
ck, which makes the /k/ sound as in chick
ff, which makes the /f/ sound as in cliff
gh, which makes the /g/ sound as in ghost and ghastly
gn, which makes the /n/ sound as in gnome and gnarled
kn, which makes the /n/ sound as in knife and knight
ll, which makes the /l/ sound as in wall
mb, which makes the /m/ sound as in lamb and thumb
ng, which makes the /ng/ sound as in fang, boomerang, and fingerprint
nk, which makes the /nk/ sound as in ink, sink and rink
ph, which makes the /f/ sound as in digraph, phone, and phonics
qu, which makes the /kw/ sound as in quick
sh, which makes the /sh/ sound as in shore, shipwreck, shark, and shield
ss, which makes the /s/ sound as in floss
th, which makes the /th/ sound as in athlete, toothbrush, bathtub, thin, and thunderstorm
th, which makes the /th/ sound as in this, there, and that
wh, which makes the /hw/ sound as in where and which
wr, which makes the /wr/ sound as in write
zz, which makes the /z/ sound as in fuzz and buzz