Explore our ff phonics resources for Reception, with worksheets, games and activities for teaching the ‘ff’ digraph. Pupils can practise spotting ‘ff’ in words, remembering that the two letters represent one /f/ sound, and using what they know to read and spell simple words.
These resources are useful when introducing ‘ff’ in Phase 2, practising words that end in ‘ff’ or revisiting the digraph with pupils who need more support. Browse the full range of Phase 2 phonics resources, or visit our main phonics resources page for resources covering Phases 1 to 5.
Pupils have already met ‘f’ by the time ‘ff’ is introduced in Phase 2. They now learn that two letters can work together to represent the same /f/ sound. The ‘ff’ spelling is commonly found at the end of short words such as off, huff and puff.
It is helpful to draw attention to the fact that ‘ff’ contains two letters but represents one phoneme. When pupils segment a word such as huff, for example, they hear three phonemes: /h/ /u/ /f/.
Our ff phonics resources give pupils opportunities to see the digraph in words and use it themselves. Activities can help pupils practise:
Use the activities as part of your main phonics lesson, for small-group practice or when pupils need to go over ‘ff’ again. They can be used alongside your school’s systematic synthetic phonics programme, giving you extra ways to practise the same learning.
Words such as off, huff and puff give pupils a chance to apply their growing Phase 2 knowledge. When reading, encourage pupils to recognise ‘ff’ as a single unit representing /f/, rather than trying to sound out each ‘f’ separately.
For spelling, pupils can say the whole word, segment it into phonemes and then choose the graphemes needed to write it. Word building, matching games and phoneme frames are all useful ways to practise this without making the activity unnecessarily complicated.
A digraph is two letters that work together to represent one phoneme. In ‘ff’, both letters together represent /f/. Helping pupils spot digraphs as a unit prepares them for the many other two-letter spellings they will meet as they move through phonics.
Continue through Phase 2 with our complete collection of Phase 2 phonics resources, including activities for individual graphemes, digraphs, blending and spelling. For the wider teaching sequence, visit our main phonics resources page.
Yes. ‘ff’ is a digraph because two letters work together to represent one phoneme, /f/. Pupils learn to recognise the two letters as one spelling when they see ‘ff’ in a word.
The ‘ff’ digraph is introduced during Phase 2 phonics, after pupils have already learned the single-letter grapheme ‘f’ for /f/.
Simple examples include off, huff and puff. When choosing words for pupils to practise independently, make sure the other graphemes in each word have already been taught.
