Silent letters are letters that use to write the word, but we don’t pronounce. You will see them on paper, but you won’t hear them when you say the word. In this post, you will find a comprehensive list of words that contain silent letters. Bookmark this page so that you can check it anytime and download our free guide for more tips on how to improve your English pronunciation.
Why Are There Silent Letters?
Silent letters may seem useless but –believe it or not– they are not always redundant. They may help us in different ways:
Homophones. Silent letters help us distinguish between homophones (i.e. words that are pronounced the same but have different meanings) in writing (e.g. be/bee, in/inn, lent/leant, rest/wrest, new/knew, night/knight, jam/jamb).
️ Pronunciation. Even though these letters are not pronounced, they can help the reader to stress the correct syllable (e.g. physics/physiques) and also change the pronunciation of other letters (e.g. guest/gesture, rid/ride).
️ Origin. Silent letters may help us better understand the origin or meaning of a word and also connect them with one another from the same family (e.g. resign-resignation, vine-vineyard).
Now that you see they’re not totally useless –at least not always– let’s check what words have silent letters. Read the list and pronounce the following terms out loud. Try to use them in a sentence, and you will see much better results in your pronunciation.
Words With Silent Letters
Look at the words below and read them out loud. Putting them in a sentence will help you better remember which words include silent letters.
Words With Silent B
The letter B is often silent when it is placed at the end of a word and is preceded by M (-MB).
Aplomb
Bomb
Climb
Comb
Crumb
Debt
Doubt
Dumb
Jamb
Lamb
Limb
Numb
Plumb
Subtle
Succumb
Thumb
Tomb
Womb
Words With Silent C
The letter C is often silent when it is placed after an S (SC).
Abscess
Ascend / ascent
Conscience
Conscious
Crescent
Descend
Disciple
Evanesce
Fascinate
Fluorescent
Muscle
Obscene
Resuscitate
Scenario
Scene
Scissors
Words With Silent D
The letter D is often silent when it is placed in the middle of a word, either after an N or before a G (-DG-, -ND-).
Bridge
Edge
Handkerchief (**NOTE: in the word “hand”, the D is not silent)
Handsome
Handful
Grandson
Ledger
Sandwich
Wednesday
Words With Silent E
Many words contain a silent E, especially at the end of a word. Usually these words end in Vowel + Consonant + Silent E. The list is very extensive; here are some examples:
Debate
Desire
Excite
Kite
Love
Make
Name
In American English, we tend to drop silent E’s in some words.
Judgement (BrE) / judgment (AmE)
Programme (BrE) / program (AmE)
Words With Silent G
The letter G is oftentimes silent when it is placed before N, mostly when GN appears at the beginning or the end of the word. It is also usually silent when it appears before H (GH).
Align
Assign
Benign
Champagne
Cologne
Consign
Design
Feign
Foreign
Gnarl
Gnash
Gnaw
Gnome
Gnomic
High
Light
Resign
Sign
Words With Silent H
The letter H is sometimes silent when it is placed after C (CH) and it is always silent when it appears after some consonants (GH, WH, RH). Here are +30 words with silent H:
Anchor
Archeology (in BrE: archaeology)
Architect / architecture
Archive
Borough
Chaos
Character / characteristic
Charisma
Chemical / chemistry / chemist
Choreograph
Chorus
Christmas / Christian
Echo
Heir
Herbs (**only in AmE)
Hour
Honest / honor
Ghost
Psychology
Rhino
Schedule (**only in AmE)
Scheme
School
Tech / technology / techie
Thai / Thailand
Thigh
Thorough
Vehicle
Weigh
What / when / where / why / which
White
While
Words With Silent K
The letter K is silent when it appears at the beginning of a word followed by N (KN-).
Knack
Knave
Knead
Knee
Kneel
Knell
Knickers
Knife
Knight
Knit
Knob
Knock
Knoll
Knot
Know / knew / known
Knowledge
Knuckle
Words With Silent L
The letter L is often silent in the combination ALF, ALM, and OULD.
Almond
Balm
Behalf
Calf
Chalk
Could
Folk
Half
Palm
Salmon
Should
Stalk
Talk
Walk
Would
Yolk
Words With Silent N
The letter N is often silent when it appears at the end of a word preceded by the letter M (-MN).
Autumn
Column
Condemn
Damn
Hymn
Solemn
Words With Silent P
The letter P is often silent at the beginning of a word followed by S (PS-).
Coup
Cupboard
Psychology
Pneumonia
Pseudo
Psychiatrist
Psychiatry
Psychotherapy
Psychotic
Receipt
Words With Silent T
Apostle
Bristle
Bustle
Castle
Fasten
Glisten
Hustle
Listen
Moisten
Often
Words With Silent U
The silent U is used to soften the letter G (GU-). It is also silent in most words with the structure -UIT or -UILT.
Baguette
Biscuit
Build
Building
Built
Circuit
Disguise
Guess
Guest
Guide
Guild
Guilt
Guilty
Guise
Guitar
Rogue
Silhouette
Words With Silent W
The letter W is often silent when it is placed before the letter R (WR).
Awry
Playwright
Sword
Wrack
Wrangle
Wrap
Wrapper
Wrath
Wreak
Wreath
Wreck
Wrestle
Wriggle
Wring
Wrinkle
Wrist
Writ
Write / wrote / written
Wrong
Keep Improving Your English Pronunciation
Some of these may sound like difficult silent words in English (or words with silent letters in them), but it’s only a matter of practice!
Download our free pronunciation guide and learn how to improve your English pronunciation. It includes video tutorials and tips to practice on your own. If you are serious about improving your pronunciation and business English, contact Talaera. We will help you find the program for you and your teams.
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