Pronunciation – The Silent B’s

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One common pronunciation problem I often hear from my students is the silent letter B that appears in many words in English.

Here are some examples and how to pronounce them.

Doubt – the OU here is pronounced ‘ow’ and the B is completely silent. Rhyming with OUT

Debt – rhyming with PET

Climb – B’s at the end of words are also difficult and though it changes the sound of the vowel, the B is not pronounced. Rhyming with TIME

Tomb – again, this B changes O to an OO sound. Rhyming with ROOM

Womb – as with Tomb, this rhymes with ROOM

Lamb – this is very simply pronounced LAM rhyming with HAM, the B is silent.
There are many words like this with silent B’s. Let me know in the comments if you can think of any more.

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