Silent letters in English

Silent letters are letters that you can’t hear when you say the word, but that are there when you write the word.

Silent letters can distinguish between homophones, e.g. in/inn; be/bee; lent/leant. This is an aid to readers already familiar with both words.
Silent letters may give an insight into the meaning or origin of a word, e.g. vineyard suggests vines more than the phonetic ‘vinyard’ would.
Silent letters help to show long vowels e.g. rid/ride
Silent letters help to show ‘hard’ consonants e.g. guest/gest
They can help to connect different forms of the same word e.g. resign/resignation

Silent B	Silent C	Silent D	Silent G	Silent H
aplomb	abscess	bridge	align	anchor
bomb	abscend	edge	assign	archeology
climb	ascent	handkerchief	benign	architect
comb	conscience	handsome	champagne	archives
coulomb	conscious	handful	cologne	chaos
crumb	crescent	grandson	consign	character
debt	descend	ledger	design	characteristic
doubt	descent	sandwich	feign	charisma
dumb	disciple	Wednesday	foreign	chemical
jamb	evanesce		gnarl	choreograph
lamb	fascinate	Silent E	gnash	chorus
limb	fluorescent	hate	gnat	Christian
numb	muscle	name	gnaw	Christmas
plumb	obscene	breathe	gnome	echo
subtle	resuscitate		gnomic	hour
succumb	scenario		high	ghost
thumb	science		light	when
thumb	science		light	when
tomb	scene		reign	where
tomb	scene		reign	where
womb	scissors		resign, sign	whether which while white why
Silent K	Silent L	Silent P	Silent U	Silent W
knack knave knead knee kneel knell knew knickers knife knight knit knob knock knoll knot know knowledge knuckle	would should calf half salmon talk yolk	psychology pneumonia pseudo psychiatrist psychiatry psychotherapy psychotic receipt	baguette biscuit build building built circuit disguise guess guest guide guild guilt guilty guise guitar rogue silhouette	awry playwright sword wrack wrangle wrap wrapper wrath wreak wreath wreck wrestle wriggle wring wrinkle wrist writ write wrong wrote
	Silent M	Silent T
	mnemonic	apostle bristle bustle castle fasten glisten hustle listen moisten often
	Silent N autumn column condemn damn hymn solemn

Here are some videos to help you say these words and also learn the origins of some of them:

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