Pronunciation: Silent Letters in English (A2)
A2 ⏱ 5 minutes
Pronunciation: Silent Letters in English
Teaching in La Réunion, where most of my students are French or Creole speakers, I hear the same surprises every week. “Why does knight sound the same as night?” “Why do you not say the ‘d’ in Wednesday?” “Why is the ‘b’ in climb invisible?” English spelling and English pronunciation are two completely different systems. Once you learn the patterns, the surprises stop being surprises.
Lesson Aim: Recognise the most common silent letter patterns in English and apply them to your pronunciation.
Silent Letter Groups
| Silent Letter | Pattern | Examples | Phonetic |
|---|---|---|---|
| K | kn- at start of word | knife, know, knee, knight, knock | /naɪf/ /nəʊ/ /niː/ /naɪt/ /nɒk/ |
| W | wr- at start of word | write, wrong, wrist, wrap, wreck | /raɪt/ /rɒŋ/ /rɪst/ /ræp/ /rɛk/ |
| GH | After vowels | light, night, bought, though, through | /laɪt/ /naɪt/ /bɔːt/ /ðəʊ/ /θruː/ |
| B | After -m or before -t | climb, comb, doubt, debt, subtle | /klaɪm/ /kəʊm/ /daʊt/ /dɛt/ /ˈsʌtl/ |
| T | Before -en or -le | listen, castle, fasten, whistle, soften | /ˈlɪsn/ /ˈkɑːsl/ /ˈfɑːsn/ /ˈwɪsl/ /ˈsɒfn/ |
| L | Before k, m, f, d | calm, walk, half, talk, would, palm | /kɑːm/ /wɔːk/ /hɑːf/ /tɔːk/ /wʊd/ /pɑːm/ |
Three Important Pairs to Remember
knight / night — both pronounced /naɪt/ — the k and the gh are both silent
write / right — both pronounced /raɪt/ — the w and the gh are both silent
know / no — both pronounced /nəʊ/ — the k and the w are both silent
write / right — both pronounced /raɪt/ — the w and the gh are both silent
know / no — both pronounced /nəʊ/ — the k and the w are both silent
Practice Task — Mark the Silent Letters
Cross out the silent letter(s) in each word. Then check your answers below.
| # | Word | Silent letter(s)? |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | knife | |
| 2 | Wednesday | |
| 3 | bought | |
| 4 | comb | |
| 5 | listen | |
| 6 | walk | |
| 7 | wrong | |
| 8 | doubt | |
| 9 | castle | |
| 10 | palm |
Show Answers
| # | Word | Silent letter(s) | Phonetic |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | knife | knife | /naɪf/ |
| 2 | Wednesday | Wednesday | /ˈwɛnzdeɪ/ |
| 3 | bought | bought | /bɔːt/ |
| 4 | comb | comb | /kəʊm/ |
| 5 | listen | listen | /ˈlɪsn/ |
| 6 | walk | walk | /wɔːk/ |
| 7 | wrong | wrong | /rɒŋ/ |
| 8 | doubt | doubt | /daʊt/ |
| 9 | castle | castle | /ˈkɑːsl/ |
| 10 | palm | palm | /pɑːm/ |
Takeaway
Silent letters are not random — they follow patterns. Learn the pattern (kn-, wr-, -gh-, -mb, -tl-, -lk) and the silent letter becomes predictable. Say each word aloud three times after learning its pattern — your mouth needs to practise, not just your eyes.
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