Sound Right

/ʧ/ — the CH sound as in check, church, match

Main spellings (~95%)

⟨ch⟩ ~87%

The standard spelling for the /ʧ/ sound.

check church child change choose each much such rich teach

⟨tch⟩ ~8%

After short vowels, use ⟨tch⟩ instead of ⟨ch⟩.

watch match catch kitchen switch pitch fetch stretch
CH vs TCH rule: After a short vowel, use ⟨tch⟩: watch, match, catch, kitchen. After a consonant, long vowel, or at the start of a word, use ⟨ch⟩: church, much, each, teach, check.

Unusual spellings (~5%)

⟨t⟩

In -ture endings, ⟨t⟩ makes /ʧ/ before the /ʊr/ sound.

nature picture culture future feature creature mixture adventure
The -ture ending: The common -ture suffix is pronounced /ʧər/. Think: nature, picture, culture, future, feature. This pattern is very reliable.

⟨ti⟩

In a few words, ⟨ti⟩ makes /ʧ/ instead of /ʃ/.

question christian combustion exhaustion

⟨c⟩

Italian musical term.

cello

/ʧ/ vs /ʃ/

Don't confuse /ʧ/ with /ʃ/! The /ʧ/ sound starts with a stop (like a quick /t/), while /ʃ/ is a continuous fricative. Compare: chip vs ship, chop vs shop, watch vs wash.