How to pronounce -CH- in English, as in 'Charlie Chaplin'

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Chimney

Sound

Chips

Sound

Cello

Sound

How to make this sound

Sound is a quiet or unvoiced consonant. The 'sound' is from the air being pushed out of the mouth. This sound is made by closing the teeth together gently, or almost closing them together. The tip of the tongue is placed flat on the gum ridge behind the top teeth at the front and then moved back and down slightly as the sound is made. Let air pressure build up and release as the tongue moves slightly down and back.

The spelling in nearly always ch But this doesn't mean that every ch spelling has this pronunciation. The words Orchestra, schedule, school and Orchid are examples of words using -ch- that are not pronounced Sound

Sound

Example words

using 'ch'

  1. chair
  2. match
  3. chain
  4. kitchen
  5. fetch
  6. much
  7. chalk
  8. butcher
  9. much
  10. chocolate
  11. teacher
  12. Richard
  13. crutches
  14. church
  15. Manchester
  16. cheerful
  17. cheese
  18. chess
  19. touch
  20. sandwich
  21. achievement
  22. bench
  23. branch
  24. beaches
  25. chew
  26. chinese
  27. such
  28. March
  29. which
  30. witch
  31. cherry
  32. cherish

Some other rare letter combinations

  1. cello
  2. Furniture
  3. Fixtures