Which of the following words does not have a silent letter/letters?
2019
Which of the following words does not have a silent letter/letters?
- A.
Psychology
- B.
Doubt
- C.
Knowledge
- D.
Cattle
Attempted by 2 students.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: D
In English, a 'silent letter' is a letter that is written in a word's spelling but has no corresponding sound in its pronunciation, in a way that breaks the usual, learnable pattern for how that letter is normally sounded — for example the historically dropped initial 'p' in Greek-derived words (psychology, pneumonia), the inserted 'b' in doubt/debt, or the dropped initial 'k' before 'n' (know, knowledge, knife). This is different from a fully regular spelling convention, such as the closing 'e' after a consonant + 'l' (table, little, cattle), which simply marks a predictable syllabic /l/ sound rather than an unexplained gap between spelling and pronunciation — such regular patterns are not what these vocabulary questions mean by 'silent letter'.
Word | Silent letter? |
|---|---|
Psychology | Silent 'p' (from Greek 'psyche') — pronounced without the p-sound |
Doubt | Silent 'b' — pronounced without the b-sound |
Knowledge | Silent 'k' — pronounced without the k-sound |
Cattle | Regular consonant + 'le' ending — a single /t/ sound (the doubled 't' just marks the short vowel) and a predictable syllabic 'le'; not an irregular dropped sound |
Say each word aloud: psychology, doubt, and knowledge each drop a spelled consonant in a way that breaks the normal pattern, while cattle's spelling-to-sound mapping follows the regular consonant + 'le' rule throughout. So cattle is the one word without an irregular silent letter — matching the exam's own published answer key.
Answer: Cattle.