What is a silent letter?
Silent letters are letters that can’t be heard when the word is spoken.
For example in the word 'sword', you don’t pronounce the letter ‘w’.
sword
And the letter ‘h’ is silent in the word 'ghost'.
ghost
There are lots more examples of words with silent letters in English. So keep an eye out for them, because you won’t be able to hear them!
Watch: Silent letters
Narrator: So… to defeat the dragon, you're just going to tie her up and wait?
Character: Ah ha
Narrator: Wait until the night comes.
Characters giggle
Narrator: Well, seems a tad risky to me, but I'm sure you know what you're doing!
Night is here…now what?
Character screams
Narrator: Aaaah! We weren't waiting for night, we were waiting for 'knight'! The 'k' is a silent letter!
Some words have letters that we don't hear when we say them, like we're on an 'island'.
Or there's a 'castle'
Hey where'd you go?
Oh well I never 'doubted' you.
Activity 1
Activity 2
See how well you can spot silent letters with this quiz.
Activity 3
Can you find the words with silent letters in these short stories. There are 5 in each.
One starry night, bright stars whispered secrets to a knight. Silent moonbeams lit his quest for hidden gems. Happy dreams danced as he slept under the sky.
Silly gnome found treasure quietly. His happy forest friends helped search and giggled. Sunset sparkled, they celebrated within the magical feast.
Karate Cats English game! game
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