'New' means recently made or discovered; 'knew' is the past tense of 'to know'.
Adjective. Recently created, discovered, or acquired. Not used before. Different from the previous.
We just launched a new version of the app with improved performance.
She is the new director — she started just last Monday.
Is there anything new to report from the client meeting?
Verb. Simple past tense of 'to know': to have had knowledge or awareness of something.
She knew the answer before anyone else had finished reading the question.
He knew the client would react badly to the price increase.
Nobody knew what caused the system failure at first.
Common mistake
"I new it all along" when meaning had knowledge (correct: knew). Or "She had a knew strategy" when meaning recent or different (correct: new).
Trick to remember it
'Knew' belongs to the silent-K family: know, kneel, knife, knock, knit, knock. If you know the verb 'know', you already know its past is 'knew' — same KN family. 'New' has no K — it is just the adjective for recently made.
Quick rule
Is it the adjective meaning recent or not used before? 'New'. Is it the past of to know? 'Knew'.
Did you know?
The K in 'knew', 'know', 'knife', 'knight', 'kneel' was pronounced in Old English — /kn-/ was a real consonant cluster. It survived into Middle English and is still pronounced in German (Knie = knee, Knecht = knight/servant). The K silenced in English between the 16th and 17th centuries, but by then the printing press had already standardised the spelling, so the silent K was frozen in place forever.
Exercise 1 · Pick the right one
The team _____ the deadline was impossible but committed to it anyway.
Exercise 2 · Pick the right one
They installed a _____ server to handle the increased traffic load.
Exercise 3 · Form the word
Is it the adjective meaning recent or not used before? 'New'. Is it the past of to know? 'Knew'.
"I new it all along" when meaning had knowledge (correct: knew). Or "She had a knew strategy" when meaning recent or different (correct: new).
'Knew' belongs to the silent-K family: know, kneel, knife, knock, knit, knock. If you know the verb 'know', you already know its past is 'knew' — same KN family. 'New' has no K — it is just the adjective for recently made.
Bryan López
Founder of SpeakUP Academy