Silent “e” — New Set (Interactive ESL Worksheet)

Read the Story

Nina and Omar built a silly sign for the class fair. It said: “Win a kit!” Then Nina drew a tiny e at the end. “Now it says kite,” she laughed. “The e is silent, but the vowel changes.”

They tried more: can → cane, not → note, man → mane, rob → robe, rat → rate, bit → bite, win → wine. “One little e, big change,” Omar said.

On suffixes, they practiced: drop the e before -ing (smile → smiling, bake → baking), but keep the e before some endings like -ment or -less (move → movement, taste → tasteless, replace → replacement).

For short words that are vowel + consonant, they doubled the last letter before -ed/-ing: sit → sitting, rub → rubbing, drop → dropped, dig → digging, beg → begged.

“So we read, check the rule, then write,” Nina said. “Silent e can make the vowel long, we drop e before -ing, keep e before -ment/-less, and double for many short words.”

Completion Dialogue — Fill the Blanks

Nina: When we add to a word like “kit,” it becomes “kite.”

Omar: Right — the vowel says its .

Nina: Before we add , we usually the final e, like “smile → smiling.”

Omar: But we the e before endings like “-ment” or “-less,” as in “move → movement.”

Nina: And for short words such as “sit” or “rub,” we often the last consonant: “sit → .”

Multiple Choice — Silent “e” Practice

True / False — Decide the Rule

Sorter — Drag Words into the Correct Rule

Silent e makes long vowel

Drop e before -ing

Keep e before -ful/-less/-ment

Double final consonant

Matching A — Base Word → Silent-e Form (drag the right word to each slot)

Left (drop the correct word)

Matching B — Base + Rule → Correct Spelling (drag the right word to each slot)

Left (drop the correct word)

Sequencing — Steps to Add -ing (drag to reorder)

Cloze — Use the Word Bank

When we add , the vowel says its : kit → kite.

Before -ing, we usually the final e: smile → , bake → .

Before endings like -ment or -less, we usually the e: move → , taste → .

For short words ending vowel + consonant, we often the final consonant: sit → , rub → .

Answer Key (click to expand)

Dialogue

silent e; letter name; -ing; drop; keep; double; sitting

MCQ

1 can; 2 kite; 3 drop e; 4 baking; 5 keep e; 6 doubled consonant; 7 sit/sitting; 8 vowel sound; 9 one vowel + consonant; 10 move → movement

True/False

1 T; 2 F; 3 T; 4 T; 5 F

Sorter (category → items)

Silent: can→cane, kit→kite, not→note, man→mane, rob→robe, rat→rate, bit→bite, win→wine

Drop: smile→smiling, bake→baking, time→timing, ride→riding, like→liking

Keep: move→movement, replace→replacement, taste→tasteless, tune→tuneful, peace→peaceful

Double: sit→sitting, rub→rubbing, drop→dropped, dig→digging, beg→begged, fit→fitted

Matching A

kit→kite; not→note; man→mane; rob→robe; rat→rate

Matching B

bake→baking; smile→smiling; move→movement; replace→replacement; taste→tasteless; drop→dropped; rub→rubbing; sit→sitting

Sequencing (correct order)

Read the base word → Check the rule and spelling → If it ends with silent e, drop the e → Add -ing → Read the new word

Cloze Word Bank

silent e, letter name, drop, smiling, baking, keep, movement, tasteless, double, sitting, rubbing