This syllable counter estimates how many syllables are in a word, a line, or a whole passage, and shows a per-word breakdown so you can spot the tricky ones. It is handy for writing haiku and other syllabic poetry, fitting lyrics to a melody, and checking readability. It runs entirely in your browser.
How it works
The tool uses a phonetic vowel-group heuristic. For each word it lowercases the text, then counts groups of consecutive vowels (a, e, i, o, u and y) as syllable nuclei. Before counting it applies common English adjustments: it strips a silent trailing “e” and certain “es”/“ed” endings that do not add a syllable, and ignores a leading “y”. Very short words (three letters or fewer) are treated as one syllable, and every word is guaranteed at least one.
Example
| Word | Vowel groups | Syllables |
|---|---|---|
| cat | a | 1 |
| make | a (silent e trimmed) | 1 |
| counting | ou, i | 2 |
| syllable | y, a, e (trimmed) | 3 |
So “counting syllables” totals 2 + 3 = 5 syllables. It uses a phonetic vowel-group heuristic — handy for poetry, haiku, song lyrics and readability checks — and runs entirely in your browser.