ghost
PronouncedGOHST
nounThe spirit of a dead person that appears to living people.
nounA faint or unclear image of something.
nounA double image that appears on a television or computer screen by mistake.
verbTo suddenly disappear or stop talking to someone without any explanation.
verbTo write something for someone else who will say or publish it as their own work.
Phonics breakdown
When GH begins a word, it makes the hard /g/ sound and the H is silent — ghost, ghetto, ghoul. (At the end of a word GH is usually silent or says /f/ — those are different rules.)
Tip
A spooky ghost — GH says /g/!
Examples
Phonics Rule: Open Syllable O (Long O)
Sound“oh”·/oʊ/
When O is the last letter of a syllable, the syllable is open and the O says its name “oh” — like in 'go' and 'no'.
This is the open-syllable pattern: a syllable that ends in a vowel leaves it 'open', so it says its long name. Here, a lone O at the end of a syllable says “oh” (go, no, so, o-pen). The O also says its long name in the 'old' and 'ost' families (cold, most). The long O sound is also spelled other ways, each its own rule — silent E (home) or vowel teams (oa in boat, ow in snow) — but those are not open syllables.
Tip
Long O says its name — O!
Examples
Phonics Rule: ST Blend
Sound“st”·/st/
S and T blend together — you hear both sounds! Like in 'stop' and 'fast'.
The blend ST combines /s/ and /t/ spoken quickly together. It can appear at the beginning or end of a word.
Examples
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