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Syllable counter

Count syllables in your text — total, average per word and a per-word breakdown, with long words flagged.

Input

Syllable counter

Paste your text and get an instant syllable report: total syllables, the number of words and the average syllables per word, recalculated as you type. Turn on "Show per-word breakdown" to list every word with its count, and set "Flag words over N syllables" to surface the polysyllabic monsters — the default flags anything over four syllables.

Syllables matter wherever rhythm does. Poets counting out a haiku's 5-7-5 or a sonnet's meter, songwriters fitting lyrics to a melody, speech therapists preparing exercises, and teachers building phonics worksheets all need reliable counts fast. The average syllables per word is also the raw ingredient of readability formulas like Flesch–Kincaid: everyday English sits around 1.3 to 1.5 syllables per word, and a rising average is an early sign your draft is drifting into jargon.

Be aware the count is a heuristic, not a dictionary lookup. It counts vowel groups and applies English-specific corrections — a silent final e ("make" is one syllable), -ed and -es endings that don't add a syllable ("walked", "makes") and the -le ending that does ("table"). Other Latin-script languages, including accented vowels such as á, é, ő, ű or ą, are counted by vowel groups alone, which lands close for Slovak, Czech, German, Polish or Hungarian but is not a hyphenation engine. Odd English spellings can be off by a syllable.

Your text is processed entirely in your browser and never uploaded anywhere, so unpublished lyrics and drafts stay yours. Copy the report or download it as a .txt file.

FAQ

How accurate is the syllable count?
It is a heuristic tuned for English: vowel groups are counted, with corrections for silent final e, -ed/-es endings and the -le ending. It is right for the large majority of English words, but unusual spellings can be off by a syllable — it is an estimate, not a dictionary.
Does it work for languages other than English?
Reasonably. Words that are not plain a–z are counted by vowel groups, with accented vowels like á, é, ö, ő, ű or ą recognized as vowels. That tracks Slovak, Czech, German, Polish and Hungarian well, though syllabic consonants (as in "vlk") count as one syllable per word.
How is y handled?
As a vowel everywhere except at the start of a word: "rhythm" and "easy" get their y syllables, while "yellow" starts with a consonant sound.
What does "Flag words over N syllables" do?
Every word with more syllables than the threshold is listed under the report with its count in brackets — a quick way to find the long words that slow readers down.
Is my text uploaded anywhere?
No. The tool runs entirely in your browser and your text never leaves your device.