Pronunciation: SH vs. CH *This post is great for PORTUGUESE speakers*

The Differences between SH (ʃ) and CH (tʃ)

These two sounds are easily confused, and as you can see above, the phonetic symbols share the same sound (ʃ) except CH has an additional 't' sound (tʃ).  Here are the differences simplified:

SH (ʃ)

• Long, continuous sound
• Tongue barely touches the roof of mouth
• Mouth is slightly closed
• Think: "Shhhh...the baby is sleeping."

CH (tʃ)

• Short, burst of air
• Tongue touches roof of mouth
• Mouth opens quickly
• Think: "Achooo!"..."Bless you." 

Pronunciation Pairs: The following words have the exact same pronunciation except for the SH (ʃ) and CH (tʃ) sounds. 

1. cash--catch
2. chin--shin
3. share--chair
4. She's--cheese
5. sheep--cheap
6. shin--chin
7. ship--chip
8. shock--chalk
9. shoe--chew
10. shopping--chopping
11. washing--watching
12. wish--which

Other Pronunciations of CH:

The English language absorbed words from French that have a ch spelling but are pronounced as SH (ʃ)  Here is some examples:

• brochure
• chagrin
• chalet
• champagne
• chauffeur
• chauvinist
• chef
• Chicago
• machine
• Michigan
• mustache

Click here for a new blog post with even more words and their meanings. 

There are also words in English with a ch spelling that are pronounced like a (k), such as the following:

• character
• charisma
• chaos
• chemical
• chemistry
• chlorine
• Christ
• Christmas