Silent letters
Silent letters are not pronounced in words, but they make a big difference to the meaning and sometimes the way the word is pronounced. This is an idea that can be confusing for English learners, especially if most sounds in their native language sound exactly the way they are spelled.
Some examples of words that are pronounced the same but are spelled differently and have different meaning (homophones) are:
weight – wait (wayt) write – right (rait) bye – by – buy (bai)
steak – stake (stayk) roll – role (rohl) aunt – ant (ant)
son – sun (suhn) hear – here (heer) to – too – two (too)
know – no (noh) in – inn (inn) be – bee (bee)
whole – hole (hohl)
Although almost 2/3 of English words have silent letters in them, there are some rules about silent letters. (There are also exceptions to the rules.)
"e" at the ends of words with short vowel sounds elongates the sound:
rid (rɪhd) – ride (raid) cop (kahp) – cope (kohp) hat (hat) – hate (hayt)
tap (tahp) – tape (tayp) at (at) – ate (art) mat (mat) – mate (mayt)
* "k" is silent before "n":
knee (nee) know (noh) knuckle (NUH kohl) knock (nahk)
* "g" is silent before "n":
gnash (nash) gnat (nat) gnaw (nah) gnarl (narl)
* "p" is silent before "s":
psychic (SAI kuhk) psychology (sai KAH luh jee) pseudonym (SOO duh nihm)
* "l" is often silent before "k" and "d":
walk (wahk) talk (tahk) folk (fohk) should (shud) would (wud)
* but sometimes it's not!
old (ohld) bald (bahld) scold (skohld) scald (skahld)
* "t" is often silent after "s":
listen (LIH suhn) fasten (FA suhn) moisten (MOY suhn) glisten (GLIH suhn)
* "n" is usually silent after "m":
autumn (AH duhm) column (KAH luhm) hymn (hihm) condemn (kuhn DEHM)
Usually, if you understand the context of the sentence you will know how to spell the word you are saying.
For more information, examples, and audio, check out this website:
