10 CH- words (pronounced SH) that come from French.

Portuguese speakers have trouble pronouncing the CH phoneme as in "chair".  A Portuguese speaker will usually pronounce it "SHair."  Now, there DO exist words with the CH phoneme that are actually pronounced SH.  These words came to English through French.

To all my Portuguese speakers, feel free to say "SH" with this list of words!

1. chef  (cook)
2. chauffeur (driver)
3. chalet (big ski cabin)
4. chandelier (ornate lighting fixture)
5. chic (cool)
6. cliché (trite or banal saying)
7. crochet (similar to knitting)
8. charlatan (somebody who is a fake)
9. champagne (We all know what champagne is, right?)
10. machine (We all know this one too...)

There are many more words that entered the English language via French when William the Conqueror, the first Norman king of England gained control of the British Isles. 

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