GH pronunciation in English: rules, words and examples

If you have ever read night as «nigt», enough as «enog» or daughter as «dau-gh-ter», you are not alone. The letter pair GH is one of the most confusing for learners, because it almost never sounds the way it is written: sometimes it is silent, sometimes it sounds /f/ and, now and then, it sounds /ɡ/. And yet it all follows fairly clear patterns.

Don’t worry, because with a handful of rules you will get it right almost every time. In this guide I explain when GH is silent, when it sounds /f/ and when /ɡ/, give you tables of words grouped by spelling (-ight, -eigh, -ough…), tell you why it happens, the homophones that surprise people most, the most common mistakes and some quick questions. At the end there are thirty practice sentences with answers. Let’s get started! 🙂

How GH is pronounced in English

GH can sound in three ways, and it almost always depends on where it appears in the word:

The most useful rule is the first one: if GH comes after a vowel, it is normally silent. What does change is the sound of the vowel next to it, which is why it pays to learn the words in families.

Why GH is so odd

The short answer is that it used to be pronounced. In Old English, GH was a harsh, throaty sound, like the ch in Scottish loch. Over the centuries that sound disappeared from most words, but the spelling stayed as it was. In a few words it became /f/ (laugh, enough). So GH today is a kind of «fossil»: in night we still write something nobody pronounces.

Silent GH

This is the most common case. GH makes no sound, but it determines which vowel you say. These are the families that come up most often:

-igh and -ight: the vowel is /aɪ/

Listen to the words, one after another:

-eigh and -eight: the vowel is /eɪ/

Listen to the words, one after another:

One exception that catches people out: height is pronounced /haɪt/, like night, and not like eight.

-aught and -ought: the vowel is /ɔː/

Listen to the words, one after another:

Many of these words are irregular past forms, so you will need them. You can find the full list in my post on irregular verbs in English.

GH is pronounced /f/

This happens in a few words, almost all of them ending in -ough or -augh. There are not many, so they are worth memorising:

Listen to the words, one after another:

Notice that enough, rough and tough rhyme (/ʌf/), but cough and trough do not: they take /ɒf/. When you put these verbs in the past, remember what we saw in the pronunciation of -ed: laughed is /lɑːft/ and coughed is /kɒft/, because they end in a voiceless sound.

GH is pronounced /ɡ/

At the beginning of a word, GH sounds like a hard /ɡ/, and the h is only there to keep the g «hard» (just as in the Italian spaghetti). These words are not very frequent:

Listen to the words, one after another:

Words with -ough

The ending -ough is the trickiest, because it is pronounced in many ways. We already saw it in the phonetics guide, and this is the version by families, showing what happens to the GH:

Listen to the words, one after another:

Homophones with GH

Because GH is silent, some words sound exactly the same even though they are spelled differently. They turn up in Listening tasks and dictations:

Listen to each group: all the words in a group sound the same.

GH in place names

In proper names, -burgh and -borough are not pronounced as they are written, which is a classic trap even for people who already speak English:

Listen to the three names:

Common mistakes with GH

• ❌ Pronouncing GH as a «g» after a vowel: «nigt». → ✅ It is silent: night /naɪt/.
• ❌ Pronouncing it as a «j» or a soft «g»: «enoj», «enog». → ✅ In enough it sounds /f/: /ɪˈnʌf/.
• ❌ Reading daughter as «dau-gh-ter». → ✅ It is /ˈdɔːtə/, with a silent GH.
• ❌ Pronouncing height as «hayt», like eight. → ✅ height is /haɪt/.
• ❌ Saying laugh as «law». → ✅ It sounds /lɑːf/, with a final /f/.
• ❌ Pronouncing though and through the same. → ✅ though is /ðəʊ/ and through is /θruː/.
• ❌ Reading ghost with a silent GH: «ost». → ✅ At the beginning it sounds /ɡ/: /ɡəʊst/.

Tips for practising

• Learn words by families (-ight, -eight, -ought…) and not one by one. With each family you learn the vowel and the silent GH at the same time.
• Memorise the few words with /f/: enough, rough, tough, cough, laugh. They are the only ones you will have to remember by heart.
• Practise with rhymes. night, light, right rhyme with each other, and so do enough, rough, tough. Saying them aloud fixes the sound.
• Always check the IPA when a dictionary gives you a word with GH. It is the one place with no doubts.
• Record yourself saying ten words with GH and compare with the audio of an online dictionary.

Frequently asked questions about GH in English

When is GH silent?

Almost always when it comes after a vowel: night, eight, thought, high, though. That is the general rule.

When does it sound /f/?

In a few words, almost all ending in -ough or -augh: enough, rough, tough, cough, laugh.

Why is it spelled GH if it is not pronounced?

Because it used to be pronounced, as a harsh, throaty sound. Over time it stopped being said, but the spelling stayed as it was.

How many ways are there to pronounce -ough?

More than six: though /ðəʊ/, through /θruː/, thought /θɔːt/, tough /tʌf/, cough /kɒf/, bough /baʊ/ and thorough /ˈθʌrə/. The best approach is to learn them in families.

Is GH pronounced the same in British and American English?

Generally yes. Some vowels change (laugh and cough, for example), but GH is silent or /f/ in the same words.

GH pronunciation exercises

Thirty sentences to check you’ve got it. Below you’ll find three interactive exercises that mark themselves, so you’ll know straight away how you did.

And if you prefer a version in text that you can copy and paste, you have it down here 👇

Exercise 1: choose the sound of GH

Choose how GH is pronounced in each word.

Exercise 2: odd one out

Choose the word where GH is pronounced differently.

Exercise 3: choose the rhyme

Choose the word that rhymes with the given word.

Conclusion

To sum up in three ideas: GH is silent after a vowel (night, eight, thought) and what changes is the vowel; it sounds /f/ in a few words (enough, rough, tough, cough, laugh) and /ɡ/ at the beginning (ghost, ghetto); and the most practical approach is to learn words in families rather than one by one.

If you want to keep going, my next suggestion is to revisit the short and long vowels, because in words with GH it is the vowel that changes.

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See you in the next post. Until then, don’t forget to keep smiling! 🙂