Watch the Video

PH is a digraph: two letters that work together to make one sound. P and H on their own say /p/ and /h/, but together they always say /f/. You find PH in words that came into English from Greek, such as phone, photo, dolphin, elephant. When you see PH, read it as one smooth /f/ sound.

PH Words

phone, photo, graph, nephew

phone photo graph nephew phrase phase phantom

dolphin, alphabet, elephant, trophy

dolphin alphabet elephant trophy orphan typhoon triumph

Spelling Word List

15 PH words: phone, photo, graph, dolphin, elephant and more.

Download PDF

The Digraph PH

P + H together say /f/, not /p/ then /h/
PH
/f/ at the start
phone, photo, phrase
PH
/f/ in the middle
dolphin, elephant, orphan
PH
/f/ at the end
graph, trophy, Ralph

A digraph is two letters that work together to make one sound. When P and H appear together, they always say /f/. This is different from F alone, but the sound is exactly the same. PH words usually came into English from Greek: words like phone (from "phon" meaning sound), photo (from "phos" meaning light), and alphabet (from the first two Greek letters, alpha and beta). When you see PH in a word, read it as one smooth /f/ sound and do not try to say /p/ and /h/ separately.

Lyrics

PH Says /f/: Digraph Phonics Rap

Are you ready? To learn about PH. Here we go.

Chorus

PH says F.
You will find it in words that came to English from Greek origins.

Verse 1

phone: ph o n e
photo: ph o t o
graph: g r a ph
nephew: n e ph e w

Chorus

PH says F.
You will find it in words that came to English from Greek origins.

Verse 2

dolphin: d o l ph i n
alphabet: a l ph a b e t
elephant: e l e ph a n t
trophy: t r o ph y

Chorus

PH says F.
You will find it in words that came to English from Greek origins.
PH says F.
You will find it in words that came to English from Greek origins.

Mr. Spelling.com