Syllable Counter
Count the syllables in a word, a sentence or a whole poem, line by line, with a check for the 5-7-5 haiku pattern.
Paste your text and each word is counted against a pronouncing dictionary of about 124,000 English words: "syllable" has 3, "beautiful" 3 and "calculator" 4. Put each line of a poem on its own line to get line totals; a 5-7-5 haiku comes to 5, 7 and 5 by line.
Counts follow the dictionary's first listed pronunciation for each word, and real speech varies by accent and by speaker, so a word can honestly be said with more or fewer syllables than shown. Words outside the dictionary are estimates from spelling and are marked; check those by ear before relying on them for a poem, a lesson or an assignment.
Loading the pronouncing dictionary; counts shown now are estimates from spelling.
Syllables
17
in 15 words, 15 estimated. Lines are 5-7-5, the haiku pattern.
- morning light on snow5
- an empty street waits for spring7
- the first bus is late5
* estimated from spelling
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About the Syllable Counter
A syllable is a beat of sound built around a vowel sound, so the count follows how a word is said, not how it is spelled. That is why this counter looks each word up in the pronouncing dictionary credited below, which lists about 124,000 English words with their vowel sounds marked; the count is the number of those vowel sounds in the word's first listed pronunciation. Spelling alone gets many words wrong. "Created" has 3 syllables because its final e is sounded, while "jumped" has 1, and "fire" and "hour" have 2 each in the dictionary, though some speakers say them as 1, which is why poets disagree about them. Words the dictionary does not list, such as new slang or many names, get an estimate from a spelling rule, and the result marks each one so you can check it by ear. Line breaks matter: put each line of a poem on its own line and the counter totals each one. The example haiku on this page has 15 words and 17 syllables, in lines of 5, 7 and 5.
Frequently asked questions
How do you count syllables in a word?+
Count the vowel sounds you hear when you say it, not the vowel letters you see. "Calculator" has 4 (cal-cu-la-tor), and "jumped" has 1, because its e is silent.
How many syllables are in a haiku?+
The 5-7-5 pattern, borrowed from Japanese haiku, totals 17 syllables in three lines; many English haiku poets treat it loosely. Put each line on its own line here and the counter shows each line's total and says when the lines match 5-7-5.
Why does a word get a different count from what I say?+
Pronunciation varies. The counter uses the dictionary's first listed pronunciation for each word, so "fire" counts as 2 here even if you say it as 1. Counts marked with an asterisk are estimates for words the dictionary does not list.
Is my text sent anywhere?+
No. The page downloads the dictionary, about 1 MB, when it loads, and all counting happens on your device.
Syllable counts: The CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, Carnegie Mellon University (BSD-style license). Words not in the dictionary: ManyTools spelling rule, an estimate.
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