It is well-known that the spelling of a word in English doesn't always match the pronunciation of the word. This can sometimes be frustrating but there are ways to try to make sense of English spelling.
Try to focus on the most common words which have silent letters, especially words that you use more often than others. Listen closely to how native speakers say these words in natural conversation. For example, when shop assistants ask you "Do you want a receipt"?, they will not pronounce the sound "p". We call letters which appear in the spelling of a word but are not pronounced 'silent letters'.
See the link at the bottom of the page for a list of silent letters.
Can you pronounce these 7 words?
What other words have silent letters in them?
