Decoding exercises: "ch"

In English "ch" normally corresponds to the IPA phonetic symbol /tʃ/ in words like "church" or "match". Many words have "ch" sounding /k/ (such as choir, of Greek origin) and words derived from French may have a /ʃ/ sound, such as champagne.

As /tʃ/

 * as "ch": approach - beach - chair - challenge - change - charity - cheap - check - chief - child - choice - choose - church - each - launch - lunch - much - purchase -      touch - which
 * as "tch": catch - kitchen - match - pitch - stretch - switch - watch

As /k/

 * anchor - architecture - archive - chaos - character - charisma - chemical - chemistry - choir - Christian - Christopher - chrome - echo - headache - mechanism - Michael - orchestra - psychology - - scheme - school - stomach - technique - technology


 * Variant spellings
 * mic - mike (truncations of "michrophone")

As /ʃ/

 * brochure - champagne - chauffeur - chef - Chicago - machine - Michelle - Michigan - moustache - mustache - parachute -

Homophones: cache - cash

Silent "ch"

 * silent "ch": yacht /jɒt/

Variant pronunciations

 * schedule: /ˈʃdjuːl, ˈskdʒuːl/

As /dʒ/

 * sandwich: /ˈsænwɪtʃ, ˈsænwɪdʒ/
 * spinach: /ˈspɪnɪtʃ, ˈspɪnɪdʒ/
 * Greenwich /ˈgrɪnɪdʒ, ˈgrɪnɪtʃ, ˈgrenɪtʃ, ˈgrenɪdʒ/
 * Norwich /ˈnɒrɪdʒ, ˈnɒrɪtʃ/

Anticipated pronunciation difficulties depending on L1
Preconceived ideas and other interferences from L1 obviously interfere in many cases with how students perceive - and pronounce - sounds/words in English. The following section aims to point out some of the most typical difficulties teachers and students may encounter regarding pronunciation.

Spanish
Many Spanish speakers will pronounce "ch" just like in Spanish, i.e. /tʃ/. This is particularly true of /ʃ/ (as in champagne) because this sound does not exist in Spanish.