A syllable is one beat of sound in a spoken word, built around a single vowel sound. Most English words run one to three syllables. Sound is what gets counted, not letters.

What poetic forms does it support?

The tool supports haiku (5-7-5), tanka (5-7-5-7-7), cinquain (2-4-6-8-2), limerick (7-10, 7-10, 5-7, 5-7, 7-10), and iambic pentameter (10 syllables per line), plus custom patterns.

What is an open syllable?

An open syllable ends in its vowel, with no consonant to close it off, and that vowel is usually long — it says its own name. go , he and me are open syllables standing alone; pa in pa-per and ti in ti-ger are open syllables inside longer words.

What is a closed syllable?

A closed syllable ends in one or more consonants, which shut the vowel in and keep it short: cat , hop , and both halves of rab-bit . It is the most common of the six types, and the contrast with the open syllable is what explains why ti-ger has a long first vowel where rab-bit has a short one.

How do you count syllables by hand?

Rest a flat hand under your chin and say the word at normal speed. Your jaw drops once for every vowel sound, so count the drops. Clapping the word does the same job, and humming it does it better, because humming strips away the consonants that make you second-guess yourself. Say it at speaking pace rather than slowly: pronounced carefully, every stretches to 2 syllables, and in ordinary speech most people say two. Where your count and a counter's disagree, it is almost always a word like that one.

Online Tools & Utilities

Syllable Counter

Count syllables in words, sentences or poems as you type, with per-line counts for haiku, tanka, cinquain, limerick and iambic pentameter.

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Count syllables in words, sentences or poems as you type, with per-line counts for haiku, tanka, cinquain, limerick and iambic pentameter.

What it is

Screenshot of the Syllable Counter homepage — syllablecounteronline.com, as visitors see it

Syllable Counter is a free online tool that counts syllables in any text by looking up each word in a 126,044-word pronunciation dictionary. Words found in the dictionary are reported as exact counts; words not found are counted from spelling rules and marked as estimated. The tool displays syllables per word, per line, and for the entire text, with special modes for poetic forms including haiku (5-7-5), tanka (5-7-5-7-7), cinquain (2-4-6-8-2), limerick, and iambic pentameter. All counting happens in your browser with no text uploaded to any server.

What it is built with

Dictionary-based counting using 126,044-word CMU Pronouncing Dictionary
Estimated word flagging with spelling-based fallback
Per-line syllable counts for poetry forms
Haiku (5-7-5), tanka (5-7-5-7-7), cinquain (2-4-6-8-2) presets
Readability metrics: syllables per word and per sentence
Live syllable count as you type
Text and CSV export options
Share links with text in URL fragment
Runs entirely in browser with no server uploads
Word lists for one through six-syllable words

Pricing

Pricing model: Free