WH

Nearly always /w/. A short list of words — who, whose, whole — has /h/ instead, and they are worth learning as a set.

Digraphs

wh DIGRAPH_WH_01

Useful pattern · High reliability · Common · Early · Reading and spelling

/w/ wh as in when: when, which, white
/h/ wh as in who: who, whose, whole

Where Wiggler teaches it: Skill 3: Consonant Digraphs

Child explanation

Wh says /w/, like in when and why. In a few words — who, whose, whole — it says /h/ instead.

The rule

Wh is /w/ in almost every word. The exceptions — who, whom, whose, whole, wholly — all have an o after the wh, which is a usable clue.

What is really going on

In most modern accents wh and w are identical, both /w/. Some Scottish, Irish and older American accents preserve a distinct unvoiced /ʍ/, so which and witch are different words for those speakers. The /h/ set is a small group where the w was lost from pronunciation but kept in spelling.

Position in the word

Beginning of a word — wh only ever begins a word or syllable in English. For example: when, what, where, who.

When this rule works

The wh is followed by any vowel other than o.

When this rule does not work

The wh is followed by o — who, whom, whose, whole. Note that whopping and whoops are ordinary /w/, so the clue is strong rather than absolute.

Examples

Easy examples

when, what, which, white, why

More examples

where, whale, wheel, whisper, wheat, whip, while, whether

Advanced examples

who, whose, whole, whom, wholly

Pseudo-words

Made-up words that follow the rule. A child who reads these has the pattern rather than the vocabulary.

whib, whesp, whan

Exceptions

wh as /h/: who, whom, whose, whole, wholly, whore. The w stopped being pronounced but stayed in the spelling.

Contrast pairs

when versus who — The two sounds of wh, side by side.
which versus witch — Identical in most accents; distinct in some Scottish and Irish ones.

Teacher note

The question words — who, what, when, where, why, which — are high frequency and arrive early, and five of the six are regular. Teach the five, then teach who on its own as the odd one, with the o-after-wh clue. Do not insist on a breathy /ʍ/ unless it is a real feature of the accent the children speak.

Accent notes

Scottish and Irish English — wh is a distinct unvoiced /ʍ/, so which and witch do not rhyme. Some older American speakers keep the distinction too.
General American, British and Indian English — wh and w are the same sound for the great majority of speakers. Teaching a separate 'breathy w' where the child's own accent has none only causes confusion.

Related rules

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