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.
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The 'b' is silent in the combination 'mb' at the end of a word. For example:
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| bom(b) |
clim(b) |
com(b) |
crum(b) |
| lam(b) |
lim(b) |
plum(b)er |
num(b) |
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The 'b' is silent in the combination 'bt'. For example:
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| de(b)t |
dou(b)t |
su(b)tle |
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| but not in some words, e.g. obtain, unobtrusive |
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The 'd' is silent in the combination 'dg'. For example:
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ba(d)ge |
e(d)ge |
han(d)kerchief |
he(d)ge |
| han(d)some |
ple(d)ge |
we(d)ge |
We(d)nesday |
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The 'k' is silent in the combination 'kn'. For example:
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(k)nack |
(k)nee |
(k)new |
(k)nickers |
| (k)nife |
(k)night |
(k)nitting |
(k)nob |
| (k)nock |
(k)not |
(k)now |
(k)nuckle |
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The 'n' is silent in the combination 'mn' at the end of a word. For example:
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Autum(n) |
dam(n) |
hym(n) |
colum(n) |
| condem(n) |
solem(n) |
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The 'p' is silent in the combination 'ps' at the beginning of a word. For example:
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(p)salm |
(p)sychiatry |
(p)syche |
(p)sychology |
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The 'h' is silent at the end of word when it follows a vowel. For example:
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cheeta(h) |
Sara(h) |
messia(h) |
savana(h) |
The 'h' is silent between two vowels. For example:
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anni(h)ilate |
ve(h)ement |
ve(h)icle |
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The 'h' is silent after the letter 'r'. For example:
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r(h)yme |
r(h)ubarb |
r(h)ythm |
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The 'h' is silent after the letters 'ex'
For example:
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ex(h)austing |
ex(h)ibition |
ex(h)ort |
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but not in some words, e.g. exhale, exhume |
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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)
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