Silent Letters in Words
English · Spelling & Word Study · procedural
Spell words containing silent letters that are remnants of earlier pronunciation or etymology, recognising common silent-letter patterns and using word origins to remember them
What mastery looks like
- Identify and spell words with silent initial consonants: knight, know, write, wrap, gnaw, psalm, applying knowledge that these letters were once pronounced
- Spell words with silent internal letters: doubt (b), island (s), muscle (c), solemn (n), using etymological connections to aid memory (e.g. doubt from Latin dubitare)
- Use word families and etymology to remember silent letters, e.g. sign is related to signal where the g is pronounced
Check your understanding
When Silent Letters in Words writes words that have silent letters — like "knight," "wrap," or "lamb" — do they remember to include the silent letter even though you can't hear it?
Prerequisites
Required first
Unlocks (0 directly)
None.