Words with silent letters

In a nutshell

There are words that consist of letters that do not always need to be pronounced, yet are included in order to be spelt correctly. Some words with silent letters have their origins in other languages and some have been carried over from Early or Modern English. In this summary, you will learn about some common and less common letters that are silent.

Silent letters

There are letters that are more commonly silent than others. 'H' is one of the most common silent letters.

Example

silent letter	word with silent letter
b	climb, debt
c	scissors,
g	sign, foreign
h	hour, rhyme
k	know, knife
t	castle, rustle
u	tongue, guess
s	island, aisle
w	wrong, write

Less common silent letters

These letters can also be silent. This means you do not pronounce them when they are included in a word. However, these letters are less common.

Example

silent letter	word with silent letter
d	edge, Wednesday
p	psychology, pseudo
n	autumn, column

Tip: The letter 'n' is usually silent when placed after the letter 'm'. The letter 'p' is usually silent when placed before the letter 's'.