Focused phonics guideConsonant patterns
Why does th sound different in thin and this?
Quick answer
TH commonly represents two related sounds: voiceless /th/ as in thin and voiced /th/ as in this. Children benefit from hearing and feeling the contrast.
Pattern to notice
TH digraph: voiced and voiceless
th
How to teach this pattern
- Contrast voiced and voiceless examples in a small set.
- Keep decoding practice separate from accent judgement.
Common confusions to watch for
- Teaching only one th pronunciation and treating the other as an exception.
- Replacing th with another sound without first noticing tongue position and voicing.
Simple practice ideas
- Sort decoded th words into voice-off and voice-on groups.
- Use a mirror to check tongue placement while reading.
Learning sequence
Helpful first
What can come next
Explore related phonics patterns
More from consonant patterns
These links are selected from the published Tiny Steps phonics graph, prioritising nearby patterns in the same family before adjacent curriculum concepts.
CH digraphIn early phonics, ch is commonly taught as one grapheme representing /ch/ in words such as chat, chip and much. Less common pronunciations can be introduced later.KN and the silent KIn familiar words beginning with kn, the spelling represents /n/: knot sounds like not. Children can recognise the written pair while attending to the single initial sound.NG digraphN and g frequently work together as the grapheme ng, representing /ng/ in words such as sing, ring and long.SH digraphThe letters s and h frequently work together as the digraph sh, representing /sh/ in words such as ship, shop and fish.
Related Tiny Steps resources
Keep the pattern inside the bigger reading pathway
Need help finding the actual gap?
Use an assessment when practice alone is not showing what is stuck.
The focused guide explains one pattern. A broader assessment can separate sound knowledge, blending, decoding, spelling and fluency needs.