How to pronounce: words with silent letters
Many words in English have silent letters. Silent letters are letters that you can’t hear when you say the word, but that are there when you write the word.
Our students know about many silent letters but there are some that I often hear them make incorrectly. So here is a list of the 5 most commonly mispronounced words that have silent letters.
The letter ‘d’ is silent in:
sandwich /ˈsæn.wɪdʒ/ and Wednesday /ˈwenz.deɪ/
The letter ‘p’ is slient in:
cupboard /ˈkʌb.əd/ and receipt /rɪˈsiːt/
The letter ‘b’ is silent in:
debt /det/ and plumbing /ˈplʌ.mɪŋ/.
The letter ‘e’ is silent in:
vegetable /ˈvedʒ.tə.bl̩/ and every /ˈev.ri/ and evening /ˈiːv.nɪŋ/
The letter ‘n’ is silent in:
government /ˈɡʌ.və.mənt/
Open your ears and listen carefully to the way people around you speak English. Listen as much as you can to the sounds they make. As you improve your listening, picking up things like how to pronounce words with silent letters will get easier and easier.
Good luck!