Silent K Words

There are many letters that we see and write but do not pronounce. These silent letters are a challenge. But there are many patterns we can learn to make reading and pronunciation easier. Silent K is a common pattern.

If you see a word that starts with KN-, you only pronounce the N. So knight sounds exactly the same as night and knot is pronounced exactly the same as not. Notice that this is very similar to the pattern for silent G words.

Like many silent letters, the K was not always silent. In Old English, the word knight was once cniht and knot was once cnotta, and the K sound at the beginning used to be pronounced, up until about the 17th century. But because the K-N combination is difficult to pronounce, over hundreds of years we elided it until it disappeared completely. In many other Germanic languages, the K is still pronounced in related words.

Examples

Here's a word list with 15 examples of silent K words.

  





  
    
Silent K Word List
  
    
    Word
    IPA
    PoS
    Definition
  

    knock
    /nɑk/
    v.
    to hit sth with the knuckles
  

    knight
    /naɪt/
    n.
    a soldier who wore armor
  

    know
    /noʊ/
    v.
    to have in your mind
  

    knot
    /nɑt/
    n.
    the part where rope is tied
  

    knuckle
    /ˈnʌkəl/
    n.
    a joint in the fingers
  

    knee
    /ni/
    n.
    the large joint in the leg
  

    knit
    /nɪt/
    v.
    to make something from yarn
  

    knife
    /nʌɪf/
    n.
    a tool with a blade for cutting
  

    knob
    /nɒb/
    n.
    a ball-shaped handle
  

    knack
    /nak/
    n.
    a natural skill
  

    knickers
    /ˈnɪkərz/
    n.
    an old word for pants
  

    knead
    /niːd/
    v.
    fold dough by hand
  

    knapsack
    /ˈnapsak/
    n.
    a backpack
  

    knickknack
    /ˈnɪknak/
    v.
    a small decorative object
  