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These words have misleading prefixes
Some English words can be difficult to find in a dictionary because of the way in which their first letter is pronounced. You might think, for example, that the word phantom begins with an f and therefore search for it among other words beginning with the letters ‘fa-’.
So, if you have trouble finding a word, have a look in this quick-reference list to see if you might have been misled about the first letter or couple of letters:
Words beginning with "di-"?
Some words which sound as though they might begin with the lettersdi- are in fact spelled de-. Examples include:
deter
dessert
deposit
detach
Words beginning with "e-"?
Some words are pronounced with an ‘e’ or an ‘ee’ sound at the beginning, but their initial letters are actually ae- or oe- instead. Examples of this type of word include:
aesthetic
aeon
oestrogen
oesophagus
Words beginning with "f-"?
Some words which sound as if they begin with f- are actually spelled with ph- instead. Examples include:
phrase
phantom
phobia
phenomenon
pharmacy
Words beginning with "g-"?
There are quite a few words that are pronounced with a ‘hard’ g sound that don't begin with a g- on its own. Some begin with gh-, such as:
ghost
ghastly
gherkin
ghetto
Others begin with gu-, for example:
guilt
guard
guess
guitar
Words beginning with "h-"?
Some words are pronounced with an ‘h’ sound at the beginning, but actually begin with the letters wh-, for example whole or whom.
Words beginning with "j-"?
Many words that sound as if they begin with the letter j-, are spelled with g- at the beginning. Examples include:
giraffe
genie
gym
giant
Words beginning with "k-"?
Some words sound as if they have an initial letter k-, but actually begin with the letters ch-, for example:
chorus
cholesterol
chameleon
chrysalis
Words beginning with "n-"?
Various words that sound as though they should begin with n- are spelled with different letters. Some begin with gn-, for example:
gnarled
gnat
gnaw
gnome
Others begin with kn-, e.g.:
knee
knife
knot
knowledge
A small group begin with pn-. These words came into English from Greek and the main examples are:
pneumonia
pneumatic
Words beginning with "r-"?
Certain words that sound as though they begin with the letter r- start with wr- instead. Examples include:
wrap
wreck
wring
wry
Words beginning with "s-"?
Quite a few words that are pronounced with an ‘s’ or a ‘sh’ sound at the beginning are spelled with c- or ch- instead. For example:
ceiling
city
civilian
charade
champagne
Some words which sound as if they begin with an s- in fact begin withps-. Like the pn- words, they entered English from Greek. Examples include:
psalm
pseudonym
psychologist
psychic
Words beginning with "z-"?
Several words sound as if they begin with z- but actually start with x-. The main examples are:
xenophobia
xylophone
xerox