60+ Silent T words list and pictures

The English language has many words with silent letters. On this page, we are looking at the letter T which is not voiced in many instances.

There are no hard rules that let us know when the letter T is silent in a word. There are however some general patterns which of course have exceptions. These combinations of letters are quite likely to produce a word with a silent T –

STLE – thistle, gristle, castle.

STEN – fasten, listen, hasten.

TS/TZ – csar, czar.

There are also many words that English has acquired from the French language. These words end in a T which is silent For example- bouquet, buffet, and valet.

Some people consider words ending in TCH such as watch, pitch, and catch to have a silent T, others do not. To keep the list less confusing and more useful to everyone, these words have not been included.

There is also a case to be argued for many words ending in TION. For example, we don’t pronounce the letter T in the words fraction and equation. Again these words have been omitted with one exception – Dalmation. It has been put on the list for no particular reason at all but to keep things interesting.

T can also become silent when people talk quickly (connected speech). This is because it takes more effort to voice and this would slow down whatever is being said.

Finally, there are some words in which T is not voiced for no apparent reason. This is why silent T words need to be learned, there are no rules we can apply.

Note that it is not uncommon for English speakers to pronounce the T in the word often. In this case, both instances are correct. It is not very clear why this is so. Most likely it comes down to regional dialects and personal preference. No doubt there are plenty of people who don’t voice the T in words that others do!