Silent Letters in English: The Full Guide by Letter [2026]

Silent letters are one of the reasons English spelling and pronunciation feel so disconnected. You write a letter that you never say, from the k in knife to the gh in through, and there is often no way to guess it from the word alone. The patterns do repeat, though, so learning silent letters group by group is far more efficient than meeting them one surprise at a time. This guide goes through them letter by letter, with clear examples.

Silent B

The b is usually silent after m, and before t.

• After m: thumb, comb, climb, lamb, numb.
• Before t: debt, doubt, subtle.

Silent K

The k is silent before n at the start of a word.

• knife, know, knee, knock, knowledge, knot.

Silent L

The l is often silent before certain consonants.

• calm, half, walk, talk, could, should, would, salmon.

Silent W

The w is silent before r, and in a few common words.

• Before r: write, wrong, wrist, wrap.
• Other words: who, whole, sword, answer, two.

Silent H

The h is silent in several everyday words.

• hour, honest, honour, heir, ghost, what, where.

Note that some of these, like hour and honest, begin with a vowel sound, which is why we say an hour, not a hour.

Silent T

The t is silent in a set of common words.

• castle, listen, whistle, fasten, Christmas, often (for many speakers).

Silent P

The p is silent at the start of words from Greek, and in a few others.

• psychology, pneumonia, receipt, cupboard, raspberry.

Silent GH

The gh is one of the trickiest, sometimes silent and sometimes said as an f.

• Silent: through, though, night, light, high, weight, daughter.
• Said as f: enough, cough, laugh, tough.

Why this matters for pronunciation

Silent letters are one of the clearest cases where the written word misleads you, which is why learning the sounds themselves, not just the spelling, is so important. Our guide to English vowel sounds takes the same approach for vowels, showing the real sound behind the spelling. Our short vowel sounds guide covers another everyday trap, and for a spelling confusion of a different kind, see stationary vs stationery. If you want to know how clear your pronunciation is overall, our Eng4Skills assessment grades your spoken English against the CEFR.