Pronouncing the letters gh: How and When to Use in English
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Pronouncing the letters gh
The gh letter combination can be pronounced in different ways:
- It is often silent, especially in the following letter combinations: i + gh; ou/au + gh; (vowel) + gh + t.
high
daughter
night
- It is sometimes pronounced like the letter f , especially at the end of some words:
enough
laugh
tough
- It is frequently pronounced as , especially at the beginning of words:
ghost
Ghana
Which word did you hear?
Which word did you hear?
Loud is pronounced and it ends in ‑d , but here you heard laugh . Other words ending in -d are: mind; dad.
You heard laugh , in which the letter combination gh is pronounced like the letter f . Other examples: cough ; tough .
Light is pronounced : in this word, the ‑gh‑ letter combination in the middle is silent, just like in flight or night . However, here you heard laugh in which the letter combination gh is pronounced like the letter f
Do you know how to pronounce the word fight?
Do you know how to pronounce the word fight?
This is how we pronounce fight , in which the ‑gh‑ is silent. This is common for words containing the letter combination vowel + gh + t, like flight or night .
This is how we pronounce fig . Other words ending with -g : pig, dog.
This is the pronunciation of file ending with the l sound (because the ‑e at the end is silent). Other words ending like file are mile and Kyle.
Which word did you hear?
Which word did you hear?
Host is pronounced since it starts with the letter h‑, but here you heard ghost starting with gh‑. Other words starting like host are hot and hint .
Josh is pronounced because it starts with the letter j‑, just like justice or juice , but here you heard a word starting with gh‑: ghost .
You heard the word ghost . Here, gh is pronounced as , which is common at the beginning of words, just like in Ghana .
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