Tch Words

Tch is a trigraph, three letters that spell one sound, and the sound is just ch. There is no t sound of its own in catch: it is c, a, tch, three sounds in five letters.

What makes tch worth its own page is not the sound, it is the choice. Your child already knows what ch says. What they have to learn is when a word takes tch and when a plain ch will do, and that is a rule with a shape they can use.

When do you use tch instead of ch?

Tch goes straight after a short vowel. Everywhere else, a plain ch does the job.

• tch after a short vowel: catch, fetch, itch, notch, hutch
• ch after a consonant: lunch, pinch, porch, munch
• ch after two vowels together: peach, coach, teach, each

Four common words break it: much, rich, such and which. They are learned as words rather than treated as evidence against the rule, and they are worth learning cold, because a beginning reader meets all four constantly.

That is the same shape as the -ck rule, where ck follows a short vowel and a plain k goes everywhere else. A child who has met ck words already knows how this one works.

The sheet that practises the choice lives on the 2nd grade spelling list, at -ch and -tch words, where the two endings sit in facing columns and a spelling sheet checks whether the choice sticks. This page does not repeat it. What this page has is the tch words themselves, family by family, which is what a child practises once the rule is understood.

What words start with tch?

None, and that is the rule talking. English has no ordinary word beginning with tch, because the pattern exists to follow a short vowel: there has to be a vowel in front of it for tch to be the right spelling at all.

So tch turns up in exactly two places, and the page is organised around them:

• At the end of a word, which is most of them: catch, fetch, itch, notch, hutch.
• In the middle, where a syllable ends on the sound: kitchen, pitcher, butcher, ketchup.

What are the easiest tch words for a beginner?

Start with one family and three sounds. The families below each share an ending, so a child who can read one word in a family can usually read the rest of it, which is the fastest early win there is.

The order that works is roughly -atch, -itch, then -etch, -otch and -utch, easiest first. Catch, match and patch are the most familiar; the last three families are smaller, and several of their words (blotch, crutch, wretch) are ones a six-year-old rarely meets.

A child is ready for these once they can read cat, hop and bed without stopping, and once ch is already familiar. The only new thing in catch is that the last three letters make one sound.

How do you teach tch words?

One family at a time, and read before you write.

1. Say the family out loud. Catch, match, patch, hatch. Let your child hear that only the first sound changes.
2. Show tch on one card, not three. Three letters, one sound, one card.
3. Read the words, family by family, before mixing them.
4. Then spell them. Say a word and have your child write it. This is where you find out whether the tch is really known, because nothing in the sound tells them the t is there.
5. Find them in a book. Catch, watch and kitchen turn up constantly in early readers.

Teaching one pattern at a time in a planned order is what the National Reading Panel’s 2000 report calls systematic phonics, and the panel found it helps children from kindergarten through sixth grade.

Helping your child spell tch words, and the mistakes to expect

Two mistakes, and they mean opposite things.

Writing cach for catch is the rule not yet learned. Your child has heard the word correctly and written the sound with the letters they know. Nothing about the sound tells them a t belongs there, so this is not carelessness and it is not a hearing problem. Show them the pattern and practise one family at a time.

Writing luntch for lunch, or muntch for munch, is the opposite, and it is a better sign than it looks. Your child has learned tch and is applying it everywhere, which is what learning a rule looks like before the exceptions land. The fix is the contrast rather than more tch practice: lunch has a consonant in the way, and the -ch and -tch sort is the sheet for it.

A third one worth naming: writing tch at the start of a word. Like ck, tch never begins an English word, and that one is quick to fix because the rule has no exceptions.

When do kids learn tch words?

Reading them usually comes in first grade, and spelling them reliably in second. Tch arrives after the consonant digraphs sh, ch and th are solid, because it is a choice about spelling rather than a new sound to learn.

Common Core puts the spelling half in second grade: L.2.2.d asks second graders to “generalize learned spelling patterns when writing words”, which is exactly what choosing between tch and ch is. Where it sits among the other rules of that year is on the spelling rules guide, and the 2nd grade spelling list has it in the context of the whole year.

Which words end in -atch?

Every word here ends with the same single sound, spelled tch. Catch, match, patch: only the first sound changes, which is what makes a family the fastest way in.

Start with the first four and stay there until they are easy. Each is three sounds, so the sound boxes give tch one box and the other two letters one each. That is the clearest picture of the pattern your child will get, and it is the one that stops a child reading “cat-ch”.

The last two add a blend at the front. Snatch is four sounds and scratch is five, and putting them next to catch shows the difference that matters: sn and scr are sounds you can hear separately, and tch is one you cannot.

• catch
• match
• patch
• batch
• hatch
• latch
• snatch
• scratch

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Printables for -atch Words

1. 1-atch Word Cards (PDF)8 cards · 1 pageDownload
2. 2-atch Words: Sound Boxes (PDF)8 words · answer key included · 2 pagesDownload
3. 3-atch Words: Handwriting Practice (PDF)8 words · 1 pageDownload

Which words end in -itch?

Itch is the whole family with nothing in front of it, which makes it the word to start on: two sounds, i and tch, and four letters. Every other word here is itch with one more sound at the front.

Show that on the sound boxes before anything else. Itch takes two boxes, ditch takes three, stitch takes four. The tch box never changes, and a child who sees that stops trying to read the three letters one at a time.

Watch for switch and twitch. Both start with a blend, so they are four sounds in six letters, and they are the two most likely to come out as a guess. Cover the front blend, read itch, then uncover.

• itch
• ditch
• pitch
• hitch
• witch
• stitch
• switch
• twitch

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Printables for -itch Words

1. 1-itch Word Cards (PDF)8 cards · 1 pageDownload
2. 2-itch Words: Sound Boxes (PDF)8 words · answer key included · 2 pagesDownload
3. 3-itch Words: Handwriting Practice (PDF)8 words · 1 pageDownload

Which other words end in -tch?

These three families are small, and that is worth saying out loud. English has only a handful of -etch, -otch and -utch words a young child will meet, so they sit together rather than being padded into three sections of thin lists.

The vowel is the only thing that changes across the three. Fetch, notch and hutch are the same word shape with e, o and u in the middle, which makes them a good listening exercise: say the three and ask your child which vowel they hear.

Etch is the rime on its own, like itch in the family above, and stretch is the longest word on the page at five sounds in seven letters. Both are useful for the sound boxes, where the point lands hardest: seven letters, five boxes, and the last three letters share one of them.

• fetch
• sketch
• stretch
• etch
• notch
• botch
• blotch
• hutch
• clutch
• crutch

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Printables for -etch, -otch and -utch Words

1. 1-etch, -otch and -utch Word Cards (PDF)10 cards · 1 pageDownload
2. 2-etch, -otch and -utch Words: Sound Boxes (PDF)10 words · answer key included · 2 pagesDownload
3. 3-etch, -otch and -utch Words: Handwriting Practice (PDF)10 words · 2 pagesDownload

Which words have tch in the middle?

Tch turns up in the middle of a word as often as at the end, and the rule is the same one. In kitchen the tch follows a short i, exactly as it follows a short a in catch. The syllable simply carries on afterwards.

Clap the two syllables before reading the word. Kit-chen, pit-cher, ket-chup. The tch sits at the end of the first syllable, which is why the rule still applies, and hearing the break is what stops a child stalling in the middle of a longer word.

These are the step up from the families above. Every word here is two syllables and seven letters, so save them until one-syllable tch words are easy. Kitchen and ketchup are usually the two a child recognises first, because both are in the house.

• kitchen
• pitcher
• catcher
• butcher
• hatchet
• ketchup
• satchel

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Printables for Tch In The Middle

1. 1Tch In The Middle: Word Cards (PDF)7 cards · 1 pageDownload
2. 2Tch In The Middle: Handwriting Practice (PDF)7 words · 1 pageDownload

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Mixed review: printables for the whole list

Every sheet below is built from the Tch Words above. No account, no email, no watermark. Start at the top and print one at a time. The sheets are in teaching order, and ten minutes on a single sheet is more valuable than working through a stack on autopilot.

1. 1Tch Word Cards (PDF)12 cards · 2 pagesDownload
2. 2Tch Word Sort (PDF)8 words · answer key included · 2 pagesDownload
3. 3Tch Words: Handwriting Practice (PDF)12 words · 2 pagesDownload
4. 4Tch Word Scramble (PDF)12 words · answer key included · 4 pagesDownload

What comes after tch words?

Tch is a spelling pattern rather than a new sound, so what comes next depends on which part your child found hard.

• If the sound was never the problem and the choice is, the -ch and -tch words on the 2nd grade list sort the two endings against each other.
• Dge is the same rule with different letters: dge after a short vowel, ge everywhere else. Badge and fudge, but cage and large. The dge word list has those families.
• Ck is the same rule again, one letter shorter: duck and back, but milk and desk. The ck word list covers it.
• If tch was the first three-letter team your child met, what a trigraph is puts it beside dge and igh.
• The ch word list has the plain ch words, including much, rich, such and which, the four that break this rule.

If your child is still working out short words like cat and hop, go back to CVC words first. Both halves of the tch rule are questions about the vowel in front of it, so the vowel has to be solid before the rule can mean anything.

Frequently asked questions

What are tch words?

Tch words are words where the letters t, c and h together spell a single sound, the same sound as ch on its own. Catch, fetch, itch and kitchen are tch words. The three letters make one sound, so catch is five letters and three sounds: c, a, tch.

What is the tch rule in phonics?

Use tch straight after a short vowel, and ch everywhere else. Catch, fetch and itch each have a short vowel right before the sound, so they take the t. Lunch and porch have a consonant in that spot, and peach and coach have two vowels, so those use ch on its own. Much, rich, such and which break the rule and are learned as words.

What words start with tch?

Essentially none. English words do not begin with tch, because the pattern needs a short vowel in front of it, and that is part of the rule rather than an accident. If your child is looking for tch at the start of a word, the answer is that it only ever sits at the end or in the middle: catch, kitchen, watch.

What words end in tch?

Catch, match, patch, batch, hatch and latch; fetch, sketch and stretch; itch, ditch, pitch, hitch, witch, stitch and switch; notch and blotch; hutch, clutch and crutch. Those five families cover nearly every tch word a child under eight will read.

Why does my child write cach instead of catch?

They have heard the word correctly and spelled the sound with the letters they know. Nothing in the sound of catch says the t is there, so this is the rule not yet learned rather than a mistake about the sound. Show them that after a short vowel the ch needs a t in front of it, and practise one family at a time.

Why does my child write luntch or muntch?

That is the opposite problem, and it is a better sign than it looks: they have learned tch and are applying it everywhere. Lunch and munch have a consonant before the sound, so they take a plain ch. A child over-applying a rule has understood it, and the fix is the contrast rather than more tch practice.

Is tch a digraph or a trigraph?

A trigraph. Three letters spelling one sound is what a trigraph is, and tch qualifies. A digraph is two letters doing the same job, like sh or ch. Nothing about how a child reads it changes either way: the three letters are read as a single unit.

What age do kids learn tch words?

Most children read tch words in first grade and spell them reliably in second. Common Core places the spelling half in second grade, where L.2.2.d asks children to generalize learned spelling patterns. The readiness signal matters more than the age: a child is ready when short vowels are solid and ch is already familiar.