Year 3 Building fluency in silent letters, homophones, and common exception words worksheet

“Writing silent letters” is free to print, with no account. It is the first sheet in the Year 3 English unit “Building fluency in silent letters, homophones, and common exception words”, for children aged 7 to 8, and takes about 20 minutes.

Print it on A4. The child's pages come first; the answers, and what each wrong answer tells you, are on the grown-up page that follows. Weeks 14 to 15 of the year, 6 sheets in the unit.

Free sample · answers on the last page

Writing silent letters

Name: ____________ · Date: ____________
Year 3 · English · about 20 minutes
Answers are on the grown-up page

Today I can spell words with silent letters and write them neatly in joined-up writing.

A Look back3 min

1.
Circle the letter that comes next in ABC order after c, d.
efg
2.
Circle the plural of bus.
busesbussbusies
3.
Circle the sentence that is a question.
Where is the bag?The bag is red.

B Watch me, then you4 min

Ali is writing the word knock in neat joined-up writing. He does not say the k, but he must write it.

Watch me

Say it: nock. The k is silent, but it is still written.

Start with a lead in, then write kn, o, ck.

Check the silent k at the start before you lift your pencil.

Now you

1.
Ali needs to ___ a box in paper. Circle the right word.
rapwrapwrapp
2.
Circle the word that starts with a silent g.
gnatgapbag

C Your turn6 min

Read the clue. Circle the word with the silent letter. Each row changes the silent letter pattern.

A garden path lined with flower beds and a green watering can

1.
Circle the word for a young sheep.
lamblamlamp
2.
Circle the word for tapping on a door.
knockknokkock
3.
Circle the word for a small garden figure.
gnomenomegnoem
4.
Circle the word for putting paper round a present.
rapwrapwropwrapp

Say it out loud: Which letter did you not say in each word, and was it at the start or the end?

D Spot the mistake3 min

A closed school notebook and a pencil on a table

Ola says: “You don't say the k in knee, so you can leave it out.”

1.
Circle the right spelling of knee.
neekneekne

E Think deeper4 min

1.
Write one sentence with a word that has a silent letter. Join the letters in each word. Circle the silent letter.

How did it feel?

I can do it Nearly Not yet

For the grown-up

Writing silent letters · 2 minutes to read

Answers, and what a wrong one tells you

A

1. e

2. buses

3. Where is the bag?

B

1. wrap

2. gnat

C

1. lamb

2. knock

3. gnome

4. wrap

D

1. knee If your child circles 'nee', they have copied Ola's idea. Say: the k is silent, but it still belongs in the word. Point to the k.

E

1. Look for: A sentence in joined writing using a word with kn, gn, wr or mb, with the silent letter circled or named.

Words to use

Say“Which letter can you not hear? Say the word slowly, then write it with that letter in.”

Instead of“Just say the word again and again. The letters will come.”

After the sheet

Wrap a book in a sheet of paper. Ask your child to write 'wrap' on the paper, circle the silent w, then say why it is there.

Tick what your child got right in StudyDen. Anything missed comes back in a later Look back box, so there's no need to redo the sheet.

The rest of this unit

5 more sheets come with a StudyDen plan, in teaching order:

Homophones in cursive(with a plan)
Joining common exception words(with a plan)
Joining exception words(with a plan)
Lift after capitals(with a plan)
Copying a kenning poem neatly(with a plan)

Every Year 3 English worksheet

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