Silent Gh and H

Say each word normally first, then say it again sounding out the silent letter, which helps your child picture the spelling. Keep a list of silent letter words by pattern. Check with the answer key.

Spell words with silent gh in igh and eigh and silent h, like light and hour. A silent letter is a letter you write but do not say. In igh and eigh, the gh is silent, as in light and eight. H can be silent too, as in hour and ghost. The directions on the page read: Read the rule and the example. Then, do parts A, B and C. The page opens with a worked example, and the answer key shows every answer.

Yes, both. We made it for 3rd Grade spelling, and the page works the same whether it lands on a kitchen table or a center rotation. At home, most families go through it together and talk the answers out loud, and that talking is where most of the learning happens with silent letters. In class it runs well as independent work while you pull a small group. Print one copy or thirty, whichever the day needs.

A silent letter is written but not said, like the k in knee or the b in lamb. Children have to remember it because they cannot hear it.

The most common ones are k before n (knot), w before r (write), b after m (climb), l before k, m or f (walk, palm, half), gh in igh (night) and h in words like hour and rhino.

Group words by pattern. Learning kn, wr and mb as letter pairs is easier than memorizing single words, and sorting words by their silent letter shows the pattern.

Yes. All four sheets have an answer key that shows every spelling, so a parent or teacher can check the work in a minute.

3rd graders spell long vowels and vowel teams (rain, team, boat), r-controlled vowels (star, fork, bird), common homophones, and words with endings, where the rules for dropping a silent e, doubling a consonant and changing y to i come in (CCSS L.3.2.E and L.3.2.F). Silent letters in words like knee and write round out the year.

Double the last consonant when a one-syllable word ends in one short vowel and one consonant: hop becomes hopping and sit becomes sitting. Words with two vowels or a final e do not double: rain becomes raining and hope becomes hoping. The adding endings pages practice all three rules.

Start with long vowels and vowel teams, since they are the most common patterns, then r-controlled vowels. Move to adding endings once those feel easy, and use the homophone and silent letter pages as review. Each subtopic on this page holds four sheets.