Unfortunately, digraphs become more complex for children to learn when it comes to split digraphs. These refer to two vowel letters that are split between a consonant. In these cases, the second vowel is always an e, and this is why split digraphs are sometimes known as “the magic e”. Some examples include: make, hope, wire, pole, etc.

Children frequently struggle with remembering the correct digraph to choose as many have the same sounds. If we look at the different representations for /i/ in the English language, we can compile a long list:

• He
• Need
  
• Scene
• Meat
• Key…

Surprisingly, there are 13 different variations of letters that create the /i/ sound, so it is no wonder that children struggle when it comes to learning digraphs. The most common error that children make is replacing a digraph with a single letter, such as ther as appose to there.