The "igh" sound — /aɪ/
As in light. Tap play to hear the sound, see the mouth shape, and hear 15 example words.
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Grapheme — the letters
igh
What a child sees written down and writes by hand.
Phoneme — the sound
/aɪ/
What a child hears and says out loud — written in IPA, the standard notation for sounds (not letter names).
Mouth shape
Start with the mouth open 'ah', then slide into a smile 'ee'
Gesture
Stretch your arms up high and say igh-igh-igh
Words to read now
Every letter in these has been taught by this point in the teaching order, so your child can sound them out.
- night
- light
- right
- high
- sigh
- might
- fight
- sight
- tight
- bright
- flight
- fright
- thigh
- slight
Words to listen for the sound
You say these, your child listens for /aɪ/. They use letters or spellings not taught yet, so they’re not for reading.
- knight
Teach the “igh” sound: free printables
Two free PDFs made for this sound. Print them, or use the full lesson online with audio and games.
“igh” practice sheetFor your child: trace, find the sound in pictures, read and match. Name & date on top. Download PDF
“igh” lesson planFor you: a 10-minute lesson with what to say, the answer key and common mix-ups. Download PDFHow to teach the “igh” sound
- Hear it first. Tap Play three times. Have your child watch your mouth while you copy the sound — no letter name yet, just the pure phoneme /aɪ/.
- Do the gesture. Stretch your arms up high and say igh-igh-igh— kids remember sounds 2× faster when there’s a physical action attached.
- Find it in words. Say a few example words aloud slowly, stretching the /aɪ/ sound: “n–i–g–h–t”.
- Spot it around the house. “Can you find something that starts with /aɪ/?” Aim for 3 wins in a row before stopping.
Related sounds in this unit
Turn this into a dated schedule
Pick a start date and a pace, and get all 44 sounds laid out as dated sessions — free to preview, downloadable as a calendar.
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ABC Phonics — Sounds for Kids