Common Words With Silent Letters

Recognize frequent words like island, listen, knew, and whole that hide a silent letter.

Some very common words contain a letter you do not hear. In 'island', the s is silent. In 'listen' and 'often', many people do not say the t. In 'knew' and 'know', the k is silent. In 'whole', the w is silent, so it sounds the same as 'hole'. You cannot sound these out letter by letter, so the best strategy is to notice the silent letter and remember it as part of the word's picture.

Try this sentence: 'I knew the whole island was quiet, so I sat to listen. ' Read it smoothly, skipping the silent letters, then cover it and spell each tricky word, saying the silent letter in your head.

• 1Some common words have letters you do not say.
• 2Notice and remember the silent letter as part of the word.
• 3Silent letters can make homophones, like whole and hole.