Words with Silent Letter G! Have you ever come across a word and thought to yourself, “That can’t be right. There’s no way that’s how you pronounce it.” Or maybe you’ve noticed that a particular word is pronounced differently than it looks on the page.
More often than not, these words have something in common: a silent letter. The letter “g” is particularly notorious for being silent, and there are a number of words in which it appears without making a sound. For example, the word “gnome” is pronounced with a hard “g” sound, even though there isn’t one listed in the spelling.
Other words with a silent “g” include “gnu,” “reign,” and “Foreign.” While the reasons for these Silent letters can seem arbitrary, they often have to do with the word’s history or etymology. In some cases, the silent letter was once pronounced but has since fallen out of use. In other cases, the spelling of the word has simply been unchanged while the pronunciation has shifted over time. Regardless of the reason, knowing which words have silent letters can save you from some embarrassing mispronunciations.
Words with Silent Letter G
Resign | Sign | Gnome |
Cologne | Assign | Benign |
Design | Foreign | Consign |
Champagne | Align | Campaign |
Gnarl | Gnarly | Reign |
Feign | Gnarly | Gnash |
Gnat | Gnaw | Gnome |
Gnomic | High | Light |