Check out this list of words with silent letters. See below!
WORDS WITH SILENT LETTERS – This is one of the most fascinating quirks of the English language, and here are some of these words.
Silent letters are common in the English language. A silent letter is a letter that appears in the spelling of a word but is not pronounced when the word is spoken. This can sometimes cause confusion in spelling and pronunciation, especially for learners; however, it is also a reflection of how rich the language is.
Why do silent letters exist in English? According to Merriam-Webster, they exist because “they are part of sound combinations that are so uncommon that English speakers ultimately resist pronouncing them.” Also, English borrows heavily from other languages, such as Latin, French, and Greek, and over time, while the pronunciation changed, the spelling often stayed the same.
Types of Silent Letters
- Auxiliary letters are letters that work together in a group to represent a sound that cannot be expressed by a single letter alone.
Examples:
- sh as in ship, brush, fish
- ch as in chair, cheese, lunch
- th as in think, thin, this, that
- ph as in phone, photo, elephant
- wh as in what, when, where
- ngas in sing, long, ring
- igh as in night, high, light
- tch as in watch, catch, match
- dge as in bridge, judge, edge
- kn as in knife, know (the “k” is auxiliary but silent)
- wr as in write, wrist (the “w” is auxiliary but silent)
- Dummy Letters have two subgroups: inert letters and empty letters.
- Inert letters are the letters that appear in the spelling of a word but are not pronounced, sometimes heard, and sometimes not heard.
- resign (g is not heard)
- resignation (g is heard)
- malign (g is not heard)
- malignant (g is heard)
- Empty letters are written in a word but carry no sound when spoken. Here are some silent consonants:
- b: dumb, thumb
- c: indict
- ch: yacht
- d: bridge, ledge, edge
- g: foreign, sign, design, assign
- h: rhinoceros, spaghetti
- k: knee, knit, knob, know, knuckle
- l: calf, talk, could, should, would
- m: mnemonic
- n: autumn, column
- p: raspberry, receipt
- t: castle, listen, whistle
- w: answer, wrap, wreath, wreck, wring, wrong, write
- Inert letters are the letters that appear in the spelling of a word but are not pronounced, sometimes heard, and sometimes not heard.