One of the most frustrating and interesting things about English is inappropriate pronunciation. Silent characters can be very difficult. They are there. He sees them. But you don’t hear them.
There are two cases where B is silent. Silence B at the end of words is one common pattern. If you see – mb at the end of a word, you usually do not call b. Another common way to silence b is bt like debt, subtle, doubt.
Examples of Silent B Words
| Word | Meaning |
| DEBT | Owing money |
| DOUBT | Uncertainty |
| BOMB | A machine that explores |
| NUMB | Not feeling |
| THUMB | To press with a thumb |
| LAMB | A young sheep |
| CLIMB | To go up |
| COMB | A device for making hair neat |
| DUMB | Not smart |
| CRUMB | A small piece of food |
| PLUMBER | Someone who fixed pipe |
| TOMB | A building for dead bodies |
| LIMB | An arm or leg |
Notice that the silent B doesn’t tell us anything about the vowel in the word. The vowel sounds can be very different, for example in bomb, comb, and tomb.