In the word spoon, which letter combination represents a single phoneme?

In the word spoon, which letter combination represents a single phoneme?

• A. s
• B. oo
• C. sp
• D. n

Answer: (B)

In decoding, two letters can produce one sound when they form a digraph. In spoon, the letter combination oo makes one long vowel sound, represented as /uː/. That single phoneme comes from the two letters working together as a digraph. The s at the start is one phoneme /s/, the sp cluster represents two phonemes /s/ and /p/, and the final n is /n/. So oo is the only combination here that yields a single phoneme.

In decoding, two letters can produce one sound when they form a digraph. In spoon, the letter combination oo makes one long vowel sound, represented as /uː/. That single phoneme comes from the two letters working together as a digraph. The s at the start is one phoneme /s/, the sp cluster represents two phonemes /s/ and /p/, and the final n is /n/. So oo is the only combination here that yields a single phoneme.