What is Silent E?
The term silent E refers to the use of an unpronounced E after another letter (usually a consonant) at the end of a word. The final e in phonics plays a tricky role. It’s not pronounced, but it affects the sound of the vowel before it in many cases.
Change in Vowel Sound
This is the most common role for final e. It’s silent itself, but it lengthens the sound of the vowel before it.
Examples:
Change in Consonant Sounds
Examples:
Silent E tells C to make a soft sound |
Silent E tells G to make a soft sound |
Silent E tells TH to make a voiced sound |
| ice lettuce office price voice |
age large college message page |
Most words that end in “TH” have an unvoiced sound. However, if “TH” is followed by an “E,” it usually makes the voiced sound. bath becomes bathe cloth becomes clothe breath becomes breathe |
Stop words ending with U and V
According to English spelling rules, words cannot end in “u” or “v.” In this case, the silent final “e” is not added to change how the vowel sounds; it’s part of the consonant spelling rule.
Examples:
- adjective
- argue
- blue
- drive
- have
Stop singular nouns from ending in S
Silent E keeps a singular noun from ending in a single S.
Examples:
- base
- course
- cheese
- house
- goose
- mouse
Every syllable has a vowel
English spelling rules require every syllable to have a vowel. Adding a silent E after a syllabic L ensures words follow this rule.
Examples:
- ap-ple
- bub-ble
- can-dle
- cir-cle
- nee-dle
- peo-ple
Exceptions
The silent E usually follows certain rules, but there are exceptions. Here’s a list of some words that don’t follow these rules:
Example:
- are
- come
- done
- none
- one
- sure
- there
Bubble Burst
Melody Match
Penguin Puzzle