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Does the word 'pirate' have a silent 'P'?

Letters 1 - Silent Letters

English is not a phonetic language but by and large there is a direct relationship between the spelling of a word and its sound. However, there are words which are not pronounced the same way they are written. For instance, PREY and PRAY are pronounced similarly but spelled differently and WIND is a word that conveys two totally different meanings and is also pronounced two totally different ways!.

The English language is peculiar as far as its grammar is concerned and there is a class of words which have some letters in their spellings which are not pronounced. These are the silent letter words. Here are some examples:

DOUBT is a word in which the sound of B is not made use of in the pronunciation.
KNEW is a word in which the sound of K is not pronounced.
SOLEMN is a word in which the sound of N is not pronounced.

There are eleven letters in the English alphabet that are often (but not always!) silent in pronunciation. Sadly there are no set rules concerning the use of silent letters, but there are some pointers to be noted that may help you in deciding which letter (if any) is silent in a word other than sheer practice:

The letter K is silent when it is used before the letter N.
The letter N is silent when used after the letter M.
The letter T is often silent after the letter S, as in the example PESTLE.
The letter G is usually silent when used before H, as in LIGHT.

The best way to learn silent letters is to practice using them regularly and to start you off the quiz that follows will help you to learn more about them.

Choose the group of words that has a silent N from the four options.

Firmness, Nap, Knife, Neck, Nine

Autumn, Column, Damn, Hymn, Condemn

Pony, Dinner, Rain, Animal, Canary

China, Moon, Train, Man, Green

Generally, the letter N is silent when it is used at the end of a word after the letter M

Choose the group of words that has a silent P from the four options.

Receipt, Psalm, Pneumonia, Psychic, Coup

Pizza, Pirate, Sheep, Hoop, Cup

Happy, Paper, Sleep, Soap, Pacific Ocean

Papaya, Package, Grasshopper, Apology, Separate

There is no general rule that the letter P follows. For instance, while the P is silent in COUP, it is not silent in SOUP

Choose the group of words that has a silent L from the four options.

Please, Place, Play, Globe, Glitter

Would, Should, Calf, Half, Talk

Owl, Hill, Pencil, Towel, Wheel

Olive, Jelly, Shoelace, Elbow, Elephant

Generally, the letter L is silent when used before the letters D, F and K at the end of a word

Choose the group of words that has a silent G from the four options.

High, Night, Bought, Caught, Sigh

Wagon, Sugar, Gone, Guess, Dug

Fog, Twig, Slug, Fig, Dig

August, Baggage, Begin, Bigger, Cougar

Generally, the letter G is silent when used before the letter H

Choose the group of words that has a silent T from the four options.

Tub, But, Late, Teach, Tomato

Ticket, Trick, Attitude, Button, Today

Tissue, Toaster, Tornado, Hot, Bite

Castle, Teeth, Listen, Christmas, Ballet

Generally, the letter T is silent when used with S. Note that in TEETH, the second T is silent. This is because T and H together form a new sound

Choose the group of words that has a silent K from the four options.

Knife, Know, Knock, Knee, Knot

Handkerchief, Work, Crack, Park, Sky

Kick, Kid, Kiss, Kill, King

Key, Kangaroo, Kind, Kettle, Kilogram

Generally, the letter K is silent when it is used before the letter N

Choose the group of words that has a silent W from the four options.

Wait, Walk, Wall, Want, Warm

Hardware, Software, Hawaii, Window, Awake

Write, Wreak, Wrest, Wrist, Two

Pathway, Reward, Sidewalk, Worldwide, Water

Generally, the letter W is silent when used before the letter R. Note that in the word TWO this is not the case

Choose the group of words that has a silent U from the four options.

Uniform, Unit, Union, United, Amuse

Cruise, Round, Prune, You, Mouse

Fuse, Abuse, Due, Plume, Pound

Biscuit, Circuit, Disguise, Guilt, Guitar

Generally, the letter U is silent when used before the letter I

Choose the group of words that has a silent H from the four options.

Heart, Height, Downhill, Fishhook, Helmet

Handshake, Hop, Hope, Horse, Hanger

Daughter, Naughty, Bough, Dough, Though

Redhead, Reheat, Seahorse, Uphill, Rehearsal

Generally, the letter H is silent when used with the letter G. Note that in HEIGHT it is only the last H which is silent

10.

Choose the group of words that has a silent S from the four options.

Fossil, Beside, Insect, Eraser, House

Purse, Miss, Scoop, Slant, Smart

Island, Aisle, Debris, Precis, Chassis

Bus, Pass, Save, Sad, Sand

There are very few words with a silent S but generally S is silent when it is used after the letter I. Note that in the word CHASSIS, the last letter is silent whereas the SS in the middle is not

Author: V T Narendra