Syllable Counter
Count syllables in English words, lines and whole texts, check a haiku’s 5-7-5 pattern, and see which words came from the dictionary and which were estimated.
0 of 13 words were found in the built-in exception list; the rest are estimated from spelling rules, which are right for about 98% of common words. Numbers are not counted; names and abbreviations are estimated from their spelling and may be off.
| Line | Syllables | Text |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 | An old silent pond |
| 2 | 7 | A frog jumps into the pond |
| 3 | 5 | Splash! Silence again |
| Word | Syllables | Times used | How counted |
|---|---|---|---|
| An | 1 | 1 | estimated |
| old | 1 | 1 | estimated |
| silent | 2 | 1 | estimated |
| pond | 1 | 2 | estimated |
| A | 1 | 1 | estimated |
| frog | 1 | 1 | estimated |
| jumps | 1 | 1 | estimated |
| into | 2 | 1 | estimated |
| the | 1 | 1 | estimated |
| Splash | 1 | 1 | estimated |
| Silence | 2 | 1 | estimated |
| again | 2 | 1 | estimated |
Count the syllables in a word, a line of poetry, song lyrics or a whole essay. The counter shows the total, the count for every line and every word, and checks whether a three-line poem follows the 5-7-5 haiku pattern. It is built for English, and it also counts Korean Hangul, where every syllable block is one syllable.
How to use this tool
- Type or paste your text; for a haiku, put each line on its own row.
- Read the total, the per-line counts and the haiku check.
- Check the word table: “dictionary” counts come from the built-in exception list, “estimated” counts from spelling rules.
- Adjust a line and watch the counts update.
Formula
Syllables in a word ≈ groups of vowels (a e i o u y) − silent endings + vowel pairs spoken separately
The rules drop a silent final e (make), a silent -ed (jumped, but not wanted) and a silent -es (makes, but not boxes), keep consonant + le (table), treat y as a consonant before a vowel (player), and add a syllable for pairs such as io, ia and ua that are said separately (piano, video, actual) except in endings like -tion and -cial. About 150 common words that break the rules, such as people, every, business, idea and science, are counted from a built-in list instead. Contractions follow speech: didn’t is 2, don’t is 1.
Example
The default haiku counts An (1) old (1) si-lent (2) pond (1) = 5, A (1) frog (1) jumps (1) in-to (2) the (1) pond (1) = 7 and Splash (1) si-lence (2) a-gain (2) = 5, so the check says “Matches 5-7-5” and the whole poem has 17 syllables.
Frequently asked questions
How accurate is the syllable counter?
When the rules were checked against a fresh list of about 200 everyday English words, about 98% matched dictionary counts; the common words that failed were then added to the built-in list. Names, rare words and words with several accepted pronunciations (fire, every, chocolate) can differ by one.
How many syllables does a haiku have?
A traditional English haiku has 17 syllables in three lines of 5, 7 and 5. Japanese haiku actually count sound units called on, which are shorter than English syllables, so many modern poets write shorter English haiku.
Why does “every” count as 2 and not 3?
Dictionaries give “ev-ry” as the usual pronunciation, so the built-in list uses 2. Words with two common pronunciations follow the first one listed in standard dictionaries.
Last updated:
Page address with these inputs: https://kakao.mobile/tools/syllable-counter/
Cite or embed this tool
kakaoCalc. (2026, November 8). Syllable Counter. https://kakao.mobile/tools/syllable-counter/
“Syllable Counter.” kakaoCalc, 8 Nov. 2026, kakao.mobile/tools/syllable-counter/.
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