What English Word Sounds The Same After Removing 4 Letters

Silent letters worksheet

We all know that English is non an easy language to learn. It tin can even prove to be difficult and confusing for students who have a background of two or more languages!

For many students, however, information technology is the pronunciation that causes most of the problems.

Information technology is axiomatic that in that location are some very common pronunciation issues that people face when learning English as a second language. This isn't such a bad matter, equally it means nosotros know exactly which areas to target to make these difficulties easier to overcome.

1 prominent obstacle can be silent letters.

👉 How Many Silent Letters Are There in English?

Silent messages are ones that you don't pronounce when saying a word. They are written down, but you don't say them out loud. There are numerous words with silent letters in the English language language.

Let'south starting time go over the letters that are rarely, if always, silent. These are: F, Q, R, V, and Y. In British English language there tin exist some silent R's, but that'due south a matter of dialect.

So, if in that location are v letters that are not silent, then we tin say that there are 21 silent letters in English. Here they are in alphabetical order, and with some examples:

👉 Words with Silent Letters

A: logically
B: climb, rummage
C: acquire, musculus
D: bridge, edge
E: date, name
Thou: high, sign
H: heir, honest
I: business
J: hallelujah, marijuana
1000: knife, know
L: dogie, talk
M: mnemonic
N: damn, hymn
O: colonel
P: corps, pneumonia
S: droppings, island
T: ballet, listen
U: guess, guilt
Westward: answer, ii
X: simulated pass
Z: rendezvous

👉 What Are Silent Letters Called?

Silent letters are just called silent letters. In some slang terms they are also called dummy letters. There is no linguistic or phonetic name for silent letters, except silent letters.

👉 Rules of Silent Letters

This list contains most of the mutual silent letters and combinations that cause difficulties for English learners. Here are the rules to help yous understand when to use some silent messages, simply call up there are normally some exceptions!

(Please note that this is non a comprehensive list of all the rules around silent messages, just some of the nigh common ones that y'all may come up beyond).

👉 Silent Letters List

Words with Silent B

Rule 1: B is not pronounced later M at the terminate of a discussion.

Examples: limb, crumb, dumb, comb, bomb, thumb, climb, tomb

Rule 2: B is normallynon pronounced before T at the end of a root give-and-take.**

Examples: debt, doubt, debtor, doubtful, subtle, subtleness

**A root word is the original word in its root form without whatsoever prefixes or suffixes attached e.g.dubiety is the root word indoubtful, and the 'ful' is a suffix. Subtle is the root word, and 'ness' is a suffix.

Words with Silent C

Dominion 1: C is not pronounced in the combination SC.

Examples: Musculus, scissors, ascent, miscellaneous, fascinate, scenario
Exceptions: Sclera, asclepiad, sclerosis, muscovado, sceptic

Dominion ii: C is usually redundant earlier the messages K or Q.

Examples: Acquaintance, admit, acquiesce, acquit

Words with Silent D

Rule i: D is not pronounced in the following common words:

Handkerchief, Wednesday, sandwich, handsome

Rule 2: D is also non pronounced in the combination DG.

Pledge, dodge, grudge, hedge

Words with Silent E

Rule: E is non pronounced at the terminate of words, just instead elongates the sound of the vowel before it.

Examples: Promise, bulldoze, gave, write, site, grave, bite, hide
Exceptions: Giraffe, brunette, cassette, gazelle (You may exist able to spot a pattern in these words; they take like 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 'infinitesimal' as in the time-measuring unit.)

Words with Silent Thou

Dominion: M is not ofttimes not pronounced when it comes earlier Due north.

Examples: Champagne, foreign, sign, feign, strange, design, marshal, cognac
Exceptions: Magnet, igneous, cognitive, signature

Words with Silent GH

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

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

Dominion 2: GH is sometimes pronounced like F.

Examples: crude, tough, laugh, plenty, cough, clough, draught
Exceptions: Examples from rule 1!

Words with Silent H

Rule i: H is not pronounced when it comes later on W (n.b. some speakers whisper the H before the West).

Examples: what, when, where, whether, why

Rule two: H is not pronounced at the beginning of many words (remember to use the article "an" with unvoiced H).

Examples: hr, honest, laurels, heir
Exceptions: hill, history, summit, happy, hereditary (Plus virtually other words beginning with H that are Non of French origin – and recollect to use the commodity "a" with voiced H)

Rule iii: H is often not pronounced when it comes afterward C, One thousand or R.

Examples: choir, chorus, ghastly, ghoul, aghast, echo, rhinocerous, rhythm

Words with Silent Thousand

Dominion: M is non pronounced when it comes earlier N at the beginning of a word.

Examples: knife, knee, know, knock, knowledge, knead

Words with Silent L

Dominion: 50 is not pronounced after the vowels A, O and U.

Examples: at-home, one-half, talk, walk, would, should, could, calf, salmon, yolk, chalk, folk, balm
Exceptions: Halo, bulk, sulk, hold, sold, fold, mould

Check your Grammar ››

More for you:
Give x words in which 'g' is silent!
Why is Chiliad silent when it comes before the letter North?

Words with Silent N

Rule: N is not pronounced when it comes later M at the end of a discussion.

Examples: Autumn, hymn, column, solemn

Words with Silent P

Rule: P is non pronounced at the get-go of many words using the combinations PS, PT and PN.

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

Words with Silent PH

Rule: PH is sometimes pronounced similar F.

Examples: telephone, paragraph, alphabet, epiphany, sophomore

Words with Silent S

Rule: S is not pronounced before Fifty in the post-obit words:

Island, isle, aisle, islet

Words with Silent T

Dominion: T is not pronounced in these common words:

Castle, Christmas, fasten, heed, oft, whistle, thistle, hurry, hasten, soften, rapport, gourmet, ballet

Words with Silent U

Dominion: U is not pronounced when it comes afterwards Yard and earlier a vowel.

Examples: judge, guidance, guitar, guest, guild, guard

Words with Silent Westward

Rule ane: W is non pronounced at the beginning of a give-and-take when it is before the letter of the alphabet R.

Examples: wrap, write, wrong, wring, wreck, wrestle, wrap, wrist

Dominion two: W is not pronounced in the following words:

Who, whose, whom, whole, whoever, answer, sword, two

Skype English Lesson with a native AMERICAN or BRITISH teacher ››

More for y'all:
The English Alphabet – ABC in English
6 Ways to Immediately Improve Your English language Communication Skills

👉 Words with Silent Letters at the Beginning

There are over 90 words in English that start with a silent alphabetic character. Hither are some of them.

pseudoephedrine
ptosis
pterion
pterygium
psilophyte
gnomonist
gnomonic
gnomonics
gnotobiotic
gnosticism
gnu
wrench
wrested
writing
written
writ
wright
wrought
wroth
wrathful
wrangling
wrangler
wrangle
wretch
wreath
wretched
gnostic
wrestling
wrestle
wrest
writhe
wryneck
wraith
wry
psychrotrophic
psychrometer
wrist
honest
homage
knurl
heir
knur
psalm
pteranodon
wrath
write
wrap
who
wrinkle
wren
psychiatry
psychology
psychosis
psychic
pterodactyl
pneumonia
knick-knack
herb
honor
hour
gnomon
gnome
knight
human knee
knob
gnaw
gnat
gnarly
arbiter
aisl due east
chthonic
mnemonic

👉 Silent Messages for Grade 1

Start with the silent letter e, because information technology appears in like shooting fish in a barrel words.

Example:

Cake, pie, skate, stove, plane, shoes, kite, lemon, pikestaff.

Make an exercise where the students have to fill in the word under a picture:

C_k_ / P_ _ / S_at_ / Pl_n_ / S_o_ _ / K_t_ / L_mo_ / C_n_

Then you can ask them which letters they do not hear. You tin can then explain that those are silent messages, and ane of them is the letter east. You can use diverse examples.

👉 Silent Letters for Form ii

Start with the letter h, and utilize harder examples.

Example:

Honest, hr, school, tum, what, when, ache.

Brand sure to use words that the students know, and so bear witness them how the words have silent letters. H is a very common silent alphabetic character, so inquire them to add more examples of words that take a silent h.

Repeat, engineering science, where, when, chrome, character, ballast, ghost, etc.

👉 Silent Letters for Form 3

Use the letters t and u. These letters announced next to each other in the alphabet, and they can exist silent in various places in a word.

Instance:

Castle, butcher, lucifer, oft, rustle, lookout man, whistle, soften, scratch.

Inquire your students to write downwards the words when yous pronounce them, meet if they wrote them with the letter of the alphabet t. From there you tin motility to the letter u.

Biscuit, guess, guitar, tongue, guard, guest, building.

See if the students have written them with the alphabetic character u. From there you can explain how diverse letters tin can exist silent, and how they can appear in dissimilar places within a word.

👉 Silent Letters for Kindergarten

The easiest silent letter is grand, so start with those examples.

Case:

Knife, knee, know, knob, knock, knuckle, knight, knot, etc.

Tell your students that the words are written with a k at the start, but the letter is not pronounced. Use examples with 1000, and make sure the students pronounce the words correctly.

👉 Silent Letters gn, kn, wr list

GN: gnaw, gnat, gnash, gnarl gnome, sign, reign, strange, sovereign, design, entrada, marshal, assign
KN: knack, knee joint, kneel, knife, know, knight, knuckle, knit, knob, knot
WR: wrangle, wrap, wreath, wrench, wreck, wrestle, wriggle, wring, write, wrong

👉 Silent Messages Earlier N

The two nearly common letters that are silent before the letter n are Thousand and Thousand.

Knack, gnaw, knee, gnash, knock, marshal, assign, knuckle, knob, design, gnome, pocketknife, knowledge, campaign, etc.

👉 Silent Letters Action

Silent Letters Board Game

👉 Why are Silent Letters Used in English?

You may recollect that silent messages can't be all that important if they're not pronounced, only as a matter of fact, they make a HUGE difference to the meaning of words, and sometimes, they even have the ability to change their pronunciation!

🥁 When Were Silent Letters Invented?

If you expect into the history of this language, you will see that about xc% of English language used to be phonemic (this means that the words sounded the aforementioned equally they looked). There were hardly any silent letters at all, just this presently began to alter around the 15^th century.

Many words from other languages were introduced into English language, to make it look more Latin or French. This acquired issues as the new words didn't follow the aforementioned rules of grammer as English! That is why, even though the spelling was already stock-still for those words, some messages became silent.

🥁 Why do Silent Messages Exist?

The Latin alphabet was also adapted into the English language, and so in that location are only 26 messages to represent approximately 41 different significant sounds. For this reason, an endeavor to use combinations of letters to represent sounds was introduced, thus ensuring that all the major sounds in English were covered.

This does make silent letters quite interesting, as you can see the history of each word in the style it is spelt, and track its origins!

Every bit time passed, pronunciation continued to change, only the old spelling was preserved by the press press, which came to England around the Middle English flow. That's why at that place are words that finish in a silent 'due east', or accept other silent letters in the middle, such as 'fright'.

Now, modernistic solar day English language is simply 40% phonemic!

WRITE
Articulatio genus
KNOCK
LAMB
WRIST
Half
PLUMBER
PSYCHOLOGY
AISLE
DAUGHTER

Skype English language Lesson with a native AMERICAN or BRITISH instructor ››

More for you:
Formal and Breezy Email Phrases Starting with Greetings
Why is 't' silent in these words Watch, Mind, Butcher …

Now I bet you're thinking – "I hate spelling! This volition make learning English even harder!" I can assure you; it'south not that bad, really.

As I mentioned before, around threescore% of English words comprise silent messages, and so it is important to know how to spot them, when they can exist pronounced and when they cannot.

It could also cause problems if you lot are trying to find a word in a dictionary by the 'sound' of it, and not realizing that it has a silent letter in it!

Permit's utilise the word 'cognition' every bit an example, if y'all didn't know how to spell this word, yous might look nether the letter of the alphabet 'North' in a dictionary!

👉 What are the Rules for Silent Letters in English?

Don't worry also much, there is (sort of) a 'solution' ….there are some rules that explain which letters are supposed to be silent, before and after sure letters (the only 'small' issue about this is that, similar all English rules – there are usually some exceptions!).

In one case you start practising these rules and utilize whatever new vocabulary that you acquire, it will go easier to remember which messages are silent in some words, and in which words they are supposed to be pronounced.

Silent letters are not there to confuse you, even though you may think so! Identifying and understanding them will undoubtedly improve your spelling, speaking and writing skills, likewise equally boost your conviction!

🥁 Helpful Uses of Silent Letters

They can be beneficial for readers, when having to distinguish betwixt homophones (these are words that accept the same sound, merely dissimilar definitions and dissimilar spelling). Some examples of homophones are

know/no, knot/not, their/in that location/they're, ring, banned and to/as well/two.

Silent letters can change the pronunciation of words, even though they are silent! For instance,

sin/sign, grim/grime, cop/cope, and rat/rate .

And so information technology is very benign to know where they are and when they are used, every bit they'll help you to work out the meaning of the word!

The letter 'H', when pronounced alone, should sound like 'aitch', just when used at the kickoff of most words beginning with H, information technology uses its pronounced sound (e.chiliad. hotel, business firm, ham), BUT it is ordinarily silent in words that are of French origin such as

hour, honest, heir, and honour .

If Etymology (the origin of words) interests you lot, then you'll notice learning silent letters very fascinating, equally they provide so much data virtually the history of words!

The magic 'e' is another 1 of form! If y'all add together 'e' at the end of words with brusque vowel sounds, it elongates the sound of the vowel, some examples would be:

tap/tape, mat/mate, rid/ride, con/cone and fin/fine .

Check your Grammar ››

More than for you:
Hilarious Homophones. 50 Stupid Writing Mistakes to Avoid
Difference between Homonyms and Homographs

If you really want to improve your English and grow to love spelling, I would recommend you take an interest in the words yous are learning. Try to sympathise the background of the words, think nearly how and why they're spelt the fashion they are, and notice the logic backside them!

This is a smashing fashion of understanding, and in turn, remembering whatsoever new vocabulary that you learn, only it is particularly helpful with silent letters.

🥁 How to Identify Silent Letters in English?

Identifying silent messages in English is not something yous can do without practice. At that place are two ways to identify them. One is by listening to the pronunciation, and the other is finding them direct in a written text.

In guild to know which letters are silent you take to know how to pronounce them. Identifying silent letters is most commonly done past listening, and then writing. When you know how the discussion is spoken you will know which letters are silent.

When y'all've been practicing for a while and know how to pronounce words with silent letters, you'll be able to recognize them in a text immediately. Without knowing the pronunciation beforehand it may exist difficult to recognize the silent letters.

So, to exist able to place silent messages you need to practice y'all pronunciation. You lot take to be able to pronounce the words correctly. Once you've practiced plenty y'all'll exist able to identify all the silent messages in written form too.

🥁 How to Teach Silent Letters?

Silent letters are very frequent in English, and at that place are numerous exercises and means to teach them. Because silent messages are unlike and and so many words have them it's not piece of cake to teach silent letters. You can't just learn them by heart, then you have to develop a vocabulary and agreement.

One of the best ways to start instruction silent messages is to get-go make certain your students understand what they are. Yous need to explain that not all letters are pronounced when saying a discussion, and that they are only for written spelling. When your students know that yous tin can start using various exercises to teach them how to identify silent letters.

A good exercise to commencement with is a written test where students have to make up one's mind which messages are silent. This is a expert fashion for them to go used to seeing more letters in words than they take to pronounce. This is also a good way to teach silent letter of the alphabet because the students won't have to pronounce the words first, which means they don't have to be shy nearly speaking the words wrong.

Instance:

Decide which letters are silent in the following words:
as c ent / le d ger / cu p board / k nuckle / autum n / due south w ord / yard u ess / lis t en / c h aos / wou fifty d

When your students are finished determining the letters you tin complete the exercise by checking their results. This is a great opportunity to continue with another important stride in teaching silent letters. Later the students have worked with written words, it'south time for them to pronounce them.

Pronunciation is the virtually important lesson when teaching silent messages. Earlier yous can get-go practicing that it is important to gear up students. Let your students know that there are many words with silent messages, and that they take to practice in gild to learn how to pronounce them.

It is often all-time to starting time by pronouncing the words you lot used in written exercises. Make sure the teacher pronounces the words first, and and then the students follow. Instruction silent letters takes time, and exercise, so give your students good examples they tin can follow.

Another way to go along teaching silent messages is to choose one letter of the alphabet and first from there. Instead of having multiple examples, you tin can merely have i letter in dissimilar words. That way your students tin exercise, and expand after on.

Instance:

knack, knave, kneel, knead, knee, knew, knickers, knife, knight, knit, knob, knock, knoll, knot, know, knowledge, knuckle

Thousand is ane of the most famous silent letters in English, and a lot of students know it. This is a practiced starting point. From here you can continue to piece of work with other letters.

Since k is silent in front end of the letter northward, you can choose other examples that are the same. This way students will be able to identify the silent letter in front end of n more than ofttimes. G is another letter that is silent in front of n.

Example:

align, assign, resign, design, benign, sign, champ, gnome, foreign, etc.

When educational activity silent letters in English always employ like examples so that your students can remember them easier. Make certain to pronounce all the words, and practice finding them in writing and saying them out loud. Educational activity silent letters in English works best when combining written and spoken exercises.

🥁 Silent Letters Do:

See if you tin can effigy out how many words that contain silent messages there are in this paragraph (Please note – not all the words accept been used as examples in this weblog, that would be too easy..!):

It is undoubtedly a tough skill to acquire, you may even consider condemning this linguistic communication, with all its oddities and words that are spelt the same simply do not rhyme! I hope whoever attempts to decipher and recognise silent letters is successful and manages to railroad train their natural language to listen to the sounds, ignore the unspoken ghosts and soften their speech. Also, that they are able to talk with folk in whatsoever thing, may it exist concern or pleasure, with dialogue as that of a native speaker. So take hold of your friend's wrist and practice until your brain feels numb! If yous try hard enough, fluent you will become!

👉 How to Explain Silent Letters to a Child?

To explicate silent alphabetic character to a child you accept to be patient. A kid does not easily work with something as complex as silent letters. To children, a linguistic communication that has actress messages yous don't read may seem stupid.

The best mode to explain silent messages to a child is through examples. Depending on the child'southward age and skill level they can already know something virtually the topic. If they don't know a thng about silent letters, then start with some basic examples like:

thou nee, k nife, yard nome, autum n , etc.

These are very famous examples, and so first tell the child the word, so show it written downward. They should recognize that there are extra letters in written form. Then you can start explaining that those are silent letters.

Be patient and e'er make sure to pronounce the words correctly. Let the child echo later on you. In one case they know how to correctly pronounce the discussion you can start explaining what silent letters are, and why they be.

One mode to bring this topic closer to a kid is by comparing silent letters to similar silent letters in the child's native language. If your native language besides has silent letterdue south, tell the child that English language does too. In that location are many languages where the pronunciation is not the same as the written word.

If the kid'southward native linguistic communication has no silent letter so explicate why the English linguistic communication does. Start by telling the child that English is not the only linguistic communication that has silent letters. French is another example.

To explain silent letters to a child make certain they understand that silent messages are not unnecessary. Because English language was created from other languages, and has their influence, there are multiple letters in diverse words to testify you how they are pronounced.

The child has to understand that these letters are necessary. They have to practice proper pronunciation, and afterward a while the silent messages won't seem stupid to them anymore.

👉 Where Do Silent Letters Come From?

Silent messages come from languages that have used them over the class of history. Some languages have had silent messages since their beginning, and in others silent messages evolved over the course of history. Silent letters don't come from one singular source.

At that place are multiple sources where silent letters come from. Two languages that are famous for having silent messages are French and Italian. In those languages, the silent letters denote the proper pronunciation.

In other languages, silent letters come from umlauts, which are two letters that fuse into one. In Germanic and Scandinavian languages messages like ae, sch, oe, ue, and others become ä, ö ü, or ß . These are the ancestors of silent letters.

And then, silent letters come from different languages all across the earth. In English the exist considering other languages had a keen deal of influence over English.

👉 When were Silent Messages Invented?

🥁 Examples of the Origins of Words

The origin of silent 'k' and 'm' in words such as champ, gnat, knee and knife :

These are examples of Viking words with letters that used to be pronounced, so they are still spelt the same way, but the pronunciation has changed. Although these letters are silent, they remain then that y'all can run into their history and origin. In Sweden, they even so pronounce the 'g' in their word for knife ( kneefe )!

Why the word island has a silent 's' in information technology:

Apparently the discussion ' island ' comes from Centre English, and was always pronounced the way information technology is today. It used to be spelt in a different way, without a silent letter, merely the spelling was modified during the 15^th century considering of the word 'island' that was borrowed from the French.

The origins of the words with silent 'gh' like daughter, and why the 'gh' in enough and crude is pronounced with a /f/ sound:

This is one of the most difficult silent messages, as it is pronounced in more than ways than 1! This blueprint is from the Anglo Saxons, other examples are dough, bright, fight and fright .

The 'gh' audio used to exist spelt with only the letter of the alphabet 'h', and was pronounced like the Scottish word 'loch' – a hard audio to pronounce! When the French invaded, they modified the spelling of these words and added the 'm' to make 'gh'. This combination so either became silent or pronounced with the /f/ sound.

Here is a discussion that might confuse you – Hiccough is pronounced 'hiccup'! The primeval English form of this discussion (in 1544) evolved into what it is in modern English today, in this order: hicket, hickot, hickock, hickop, hiccup and finally hiccough .

The last word in the series (hiccough) was apparently invented considering someone idea that there should be a link betwixt 'cough' and 'hiccup'! Personally, I can't see why!

Skype English language Lesson with a native AMERICAN or BRITISH teacher ››

More than for you:
A Big List of Prefixes and Suffixes and Their Meanings
When exercise we employ the suffixes -er and -or?

👉 How Many Languages Take Silent Letters?

There are many languages across the earth that accept silent messages. Many of these languages have evolved and have been influenced past history. Most languages that have silent messages employ the Latin Script.

Danish, Faroese, German, French, Indonesian, Irish gaelic (Gaelic), Norwegian, Italian, Castilian, and Turkish

Some languages that don't apply the Latin Script also have silent letters. These are Chinese (Standard mandarin and Cantonese), Japanese, and Russian.

🥁 Who Invented Silent Letters?

Silent messages were not invented. One person, or more people, or fifty-fifty a while country, did not invent silent messages. The history and evolution of language acquired silent messages to be a part of the English language.