Silent letters in English

There are a lot of silent letters in English. This is because although the pronunciation of some words has changed over the last two or three hundred years the spelling has stayed the same.

There aren't many hard and fast rules, it's more a matter of learning which letters are silent in certain combinations of letters. Here are some of the most common silent letters. 

In the following examples, all silent letters are given in brackets. 

Silent 'b'

The 'b' is silent in the combination 'mb' at the end of a word. For example:
bom(b)	clim(b)	com(b)	crum(b)
lam(b)	lim(b)	plum(b)er	num(b)
The 'b' is silent in the combination 'bt'. For example:
de(b)t	dou(b)t	su(b)tle
but not in some words, e.g. obtain, unobtrusive

Rule 1: B is not pronounced after M at the end of a word.
Examples: limb, crumb, dumb, comb, bomb, thumb, climb, tomb
Rule 2: B is usually not pronounced before T at the end of a root word.**
Examples: debt, doubt, debtor, doubtful, subtle, subtleness
**A root word is the original word in its root form without any prefixes or suffixes attached e.g. doubt is the root word in doubtful, and the ‘ful’ is a suffix. Subtle is the root word, and ‘ness’ is a suffix.

Silent 'c'

The 'c' is silent in the rule 1 and rule 2. For

Rule 1: C is not pronounced in the combination SC.
Examples: Muscle, scissors, ascent, miscellaneous, fascinate, scenario
Exceptions: Sclera, asclepiad, sclerosis, muscovado, sceptic
Rule 2: C is usually redundant before the letters K or Q.
Examples: Acquaintance, acknowledge, acquiesce, acquit

Silent 'd' 

The 'd' is silent in the combination 'dg'. For example:
ba(d)ge	e(d)ge	han(d)kerchief	he(d)ge
han(d)some	ple(d)ge	we(d)ge	We(d)nesday

Rule 1: D is not pronounced in the following common words:
Handkerchief, Wednesday, sandwich, handsome
Rule 2: D is also not pronounced in the combination DG.
Examples: Pledge, dodge, grudge, hedge

Silent 'e' 

The 'e' is silent. For example: ev(e)ry, ev(e)ning, diff(e)rent, sev(e)ral, int(e)resting, veg(e)table, lit(e)rature, temp(e)rature, p(e)rhaps He described sev(e)ral diff(e)rent veg(e)tables on his plate. I didn't find that very int(e)resting, It certainly wasn't lit(e)rature. P(e)rhaps his body temp(e)rature was too hi(gh).

Rule: E is not pronounced at the end of words, but instead elongates the sound of the vowel before it.
Examples: Hope, drive, gave, write, site, grave, bite, hide
Exceptions: Giraffe, brunette, cassette, gazelle (You may be able to spot a pattern in these words; they have similar combinations in the last syllable. This shows that the exceptions are generally words with unusual stress on the final syllable – but not always! One example would be the word ‘minute’ as in the time-measuring unit.)

Silent 'g' 

The 'g' is silent. For example: There was no si(g)n of the French champa(g)ne. gh: hi(gh), ri(gh)t, ni(gh)t, mi(gh)t, si(gh)t brou(gh)t, thou(gh)t, cau(gh)t, ou(gh)t, dau(gh)ter wei(gh), nei(gh)bour, strai(gh)t The hi(gh) and mi(gh)ty were not in si(gh)t that night. I cau(gh)t some sa(l)mon and brou(gh)t them strai(gh)t to my dau(gh)ter. My nei(gh)bour asked me how much I wei(gh)ed.

Rule: G is not often not pronounced when it comes before N.
Examples: Champagne, foreign, sign, feign, foreign, design, align, cognac
Exceptions: Magnet, igneous, cognitive, signature

Silent 'gh' 

The 'gh' is silent. For example:

Rule 1: GH is not pronounced when it comes after a vowel.

Examples: Thought, drought, through, thorough, borough, daughter, light, might, sigh, right, fight, weigh, weight
Exceptions: Doghouse, foghorn, bighead (As you can see, the exceptions are generally compound words i.e. words that have been formed by combining two complete words)

Rule 2: GH is sometimes pronounced like F.
Examples: rough, tough, laugh, enough, cough, clough, draught
Exceptions: Examples from rule 1!

Silent 'h' 

The 'h' is silent. For example: "I'll be back in an (h)our," said the (h)eiress. But it was not an (h)onest or an (h)onourable ans(w)er.

Rule 1: H is not pronounced when it comes after W (n.b. some speakers whisper the H before the W).
Examples: what, when, where, whether, why
Rule 2: H is not pronounced at the beginning of many words (remember to use the article “an” with unvoiced H).
Examples: hour, honest, honour, heir
Exceptions: hill, history, height, happy, hereditary (Plus most other words beginning with H that are NOT of French origin – and remember to use the article “a” with voiced H)
Rule 3: H is often not pronounced when it comes after C, G or R.
Examples: choir, chorus, ghastly, ghoul, aghast, echo, rhinocerous, rhythm

Silent 'k'

The 'k' is silent in the combination 'kn'. For example:
(k)nack	(k)nee	(k)new	(k)nickers
(k)nife	(k)night	(k)nitting	(k)nob
(k)nock	(k)not	(k)now	(k)nuckle

Rule: K is not pronounced when it comes before N at the beginning of a word.
Examples: knife, knee, know, knock, knowledge, knead

Silent 'l' 

The 'l' is silent. For example: sa(l)mon, ca(l)m, wou(l)d, cou(l)d, shou(l)d, wa(l)k, ta(l)k, ha(l)f He cou(l)d wa(l)k for ha(l)f a mile and ta(l)k ca(l)mly about sa(l)monella poisoning for an (h)our and a half.

Rule: L is not pronounced after the vowels A, O and U.
Examples: calm, half, talk, walk, would, should, could, calf, salmon, yolk, chalk, folk, balm
Exceptions: Halo, bulk, sulk, hold, sold, fold, mould

Silent 'n' 

The 'n' is silent in the combination 'mn' at the end of a word. For example:
Autum(n)	dam(n)	hym(n)	colum(n)
condem(n)	solem(n)

Rule: N is not pronounced when it comes after M at the end of a word.
Examples: Autumn, hymn, column, solemn

Silent 'p' 

The 'p' is silent in the combination 'ps' at the beginning of a word. For example:
(p)salm	(p)sychiatry	(p)syche	(p)sychology

cu(p)board, (p)sychiatry/(p)sychology,
(p)sychotherapy, (p)neumonia/(p)neumatic

The (p)sychiatrist recommended (p)sychotherapy. "There's no med(i)cine in your cu(p)board will help you," she said. "Save that for (p)neumonia."

Rule: P is not pronounced at the beginning of many words using the combinations PS, PT and PN.

Psychiatrist, pneumonia, pneumatic, psychotherapy, psychotic, psychologist, pseudonym, Pterodactyl

Silent 'ph' 

The 'ph' is silent. For example: Rule: PH is sometimes pronounced like F. Examples: telephone, paragraph, alphabet, epiphany, sophomore

Silent 'h' 

The 'h' is silent at the end of word when it follows a vowel. For example:
cheeta(h)	Sara(h)	messia(h)	savana(h)
The 'h' is silent between two vowels. For example:
anni(h)ilate	ve(h)ement	ve(h)icle
The 'h' is silent after the letter 'r'. For example:
r(h)yme	r(h)ubarb	r(h)ythm
The 'h' is silent after the letters 'ex' For example:
ex(h)austing	ex(h)ibition	ex(h)ort
but not in some words, e.g. exhale, exhume

Silent 's' 't' and 'w'

s: i(s)land, i(s)les Ireland is an i(s)and. The British I(s)les are not part of Ireland.

Rule: S is not pronounced before L in the following words:
Island, isle, aisle, islet

t: lis(t)en, fas(t)en, of(t)en, whis(t)le, cas(t)le, Chris(t)mas

Fas(t)en you sea(t) belts.

How of(t)en do I have to say that? I can see you're not lis(t)ening when you're whis(t)ling.

Rule: T is not pronounced in these common words:
Castle, Christmas, fasten, listen, often, whistle, thistle, bustle, hasten, soften, rapport, gourmet, ballet

u: g(u)ess, g(u)idance, g(u)itar, g(u)est, g(u)ild, g(u)ard

Rule: U is not pronounced when it comes after G and before a vowel.
Examples: guess, guidance, guitar, guest, guild, guard

w: ans(w)er, (w)rite, (w)rong, (w)ring, (w)rinkle, (w)rist, (w)retched, (w)restler

I feel (w)retched," said the (w)restler.

"My (w)rist is all (w)rinkled. I can't (w)rite and who wou(l)d want to wrest(l)e with me now?"

Rule 1: W is not pronounced at the beginning of a word when it is before the letter R.

Examples: wrap, write, wrong, wring, wreck, wrestle, wrap, wrist
Rule 2: W is not pronounced in the following words:
Who, whose, whom, whole, whoever, answer, sword, two

Vocabulary:

to throw up: to be physically sick to hardly touch a drop: to not drink much alcohol to chat up:  to get to know someone and talk to him or her in a romantic way give me a break:  stop annoying me (in this case, teasing Alice about Dr Laver)