SILENT LETTER WORDS
A silent letter is a letter that, in
a particular word, does not correspond to any sound in the word’s
pronunciation. One of the noted difficulties of English spelling is a high
number of silent letters, they make the spelling of words different from their
pronunciation.
Rules for the silent letter words in English are follows:
RULE 1 : “A” is unpronounced
when it comes before “L” for the following words.
EXAMPLES : Artistically, Critically, Logically,
Musically, Physically, Romantically, Stoically
RULE 2 : “B” is not
pronounced after “M” at the end of a word.
EXAMPLES : Bomb, Climb,
Crumb, Comb, Dumb, Limb, Plumber, Thumb, Tomb
RULE 3 : “B” is usually not
pronounced before “T” at the end of a root word.
EXAMPLES : debt, debtor,
doubt, doubtful, subtle, subtleness
NOTE : A root word is the original word in
its root form without any prefixes or suffixes attached.
E.G. Doubt is
the root word in doubtful, and the ‘ful’ is a suffix. Subtle is the root word,
and ‘ness’ is a suffix.
RULE 4 : “C” is usually
redundant before the letters “K”, or “Q”.
EXAMPLES : Acknowledge,
Acquaintance, Acquiesce, Acquit, Stick, Tick
RULE 5 : “C” is not
pronounced in the combination “SC”.
EXAMPLES : Abscess,
Ascent, Conscious, Fascinate, Miscellaneous, Muscle, Scenario Scissors
EXCEPTIONS : Sclera,
asclepiad, sclerosis, muscovado, sceptic
RULE 6 : “D” is not
pronounced in the following common words:
EXAMPLES : Handkerchief,
Handsome, Sandwich, Wednesday,
RULE 7 : D is also not
pronounced in the combination DG.
EXAMPLES : Pledge,
dodge, grudge, hedge
RULE 8 : “E” is not
pronounced at the end of words, but instead elongates the sound of the vowel
before it.
EXAMPLES : Hope, drive,
gave, write, site, grave, bite, hide
EXCEPTIONS : Giraffe, brunette, cassette, gazelle
(You may be able to spot a pattern in these words:
they have
similar combinations in the last syllable. This shows that the exceptions are
generally words with unusual stress on the final syllable – but not always! One
example would be the word ‘minute’ as in the time-measuring unit.)
RULE 9 : “G” is not often
not pronounced when it comes before “N”.
EXAMPLES : Champagne,
foreign, sign, feign, foreign, design, align, cognac
EXCEPTIONS : Magnet, igneous,
cognitive, signature
RULE 10 : “GH” is
not pronounced when it comes after a vowel.
EXAMPLES : Thought, drought, through, thorough,
borough, daughter, light, might, sigh, right, fight, weigh, weight
EXCEPTIONS : Doghouse, foghorn, bighead (As you
can see, the exceptions are generally compound words i.e. words that have been
formed by combining two complete words)
RULE 11 : “GH” is
sometimes pronounced like “F”.
EXAMPLES : rough, tough,
laugh, enough, cough, clough, draught
RULE 12 : “H” is
not pronounced when it comes after “W”
EXAMPLES : what, when,
where, whether, why
RULE 13 : “H” is not pronounced at the
beginning of many words (remember to use the article “AN” with unvoiced H).
EXAMPLES : hour, honest,
honour, heir
EXCEPTIONS : hill, history, height, happy,
hereditary (Plus most other words beginning with H that are NOT of French
origin – and remember to use the article “A” with voiced H)
RULE 14 : “H” is
often not pronounced when it comes after “C”, “G” or “R”.
EXAMPLES : Anchor, Character, Choir, chorus,
Echo, Ghastly, ghoul, aghast, echo, Rhinocerous, Rhythm
RULE 15 : ” K” is
not pronounced when it comes before “N” at the beginning of a word.
EXAMPLES : knife, knee,
know, knock, knowledge, knead
RULE 16 : “L” is
not pronounced after the vowels “A”, “O” and “U”.
EXAMPLES : calm, half,
talk, walk, would, should, could, calf, salmon, yolk, chalk, folk, balm
EXCEPTIONS : Halo, bulk,
sulk, hold, sold, fold, mould
RULE 17 : “N” is
not pronounced when it comes after “M” at the end of a word.
EXAMPLES : Autumn, hymn,
column, solemn
RULE 18 : “P” is not pronounced at the
beginning of many words using the combinations “PS”, “PT” and “PN”.
EXAMPLES : Psychiatrist, pneumonia, pneumatic,
psychotherapy, psychotic, psychologist, pseudonym, Pterodactyl
RULE 19 : “PH” is
sometimes pronounced like “F”.
EXAMPLES : telephone,
paragraph, alphabet, epiphany, sophomore
RULE 20 : “R” is
not pronounced for the following words.
EXAMPLES : Butter,
Paper, Surprise
RULE 21 : “S” is
not pronounced before “L” in the following words:
EXAMPLES : Island, isle,
aisle, islet
RULE 22 : “T” is
not pronounced in these common words:
EXAMPLES : Castle, Christmas, fasten, listen,
often, whistle, thistle, bustle, hasten, soften, rapport, gourmet, ballet
RULE 23 : “U” is
not pronounced when it comes after “G” and before “a vowel”.
EXAMPLES : guess,
guidance, guitar, guest, guild, guard
RULE 24 : “W” is
not pronounced at the beginning of a word when it is before the letter “R”.
EXAMPLES : wrap, write,
wrong, wring, wreck, wrestle, wrap, wrist
RULE 25 : “W” is
not pronounced in the following words
Who, whose, whom, whole, whoever,answer,
sword, two