English Spelling Keeps Letters It Doesn't Say

English spelling often freezes old pronunciations from centuries ago, which is why some letters are written but never spoken today. The "k" in "knife" and "knee" used to be pronounced, as did the "b" in "climb" and "comb" — but the sounds disappeared from speech while the letters stayed stuck in the spelling. Similarly, the "t" in "listen" and "castle" and the "l" in "calm" and "half" are silent, even though nearby related words sometimes do pronounce them. These aren't random exceptions scattered everywhere; certain letter combinations, like "kn-" at the start of a word or "-mb" at the end, are reliably silent almost every time. Today, go through this short list — knife, knee, climb, comb, listen, castle, calm, half — and say each one out loud, skipping the silent letter completely. Once you've spotted a handful of these patterns, you'll start predicting silent letters in brand-new words almost automatically, which saves you from guessing wrong out loud.