Syllable Counter

How syllables are counted here

The counter uses a rule-based model: it counts vowel groups, then adjusts for common patterns (silent e, -le endings, syllabic l/r in Czech-family languages). No dictionary lookup, no API — it runs entirely in your browser, instantly, on any length of text.

Rules get English right most of the time but not always: this counter says «beautiful» has 4 syllables, while dictionaries say 3 (beau·ti·ful). Poets and dialects disagree too — «fire» is one syllable in most American speech and often two in verse. Treat the totals as a fast, consistent estimate; for a single contested word, say it out loud.

Which scripts are supported

Syllables are modeled for Latin (English and ~25 European languages), Cyrillic (Russian, Ukrainian, Bulgarian, Serbian), Greek and Devanagari (Hindi) scripts. For scripts where a vowel-group model would be dishonest — Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Arabic, Persian — the count is suppressed and shows a dash instead of a wrong number. The chips below run the real engine, so you can verify each case yourself.

From totals to lines — poetry workflows

The per-line table above (with Haiku 5-7-5 and Tanka 5-7-5-7-7 targets) is the tool most syllable work actually needs: it marks each line under/over/met as you type. Word and sentence totals for the same text live in the word counter; rhythm and grade level in the readability checker.

How accurate is syllable counting?

English syllables follow vowel-group patterns with many exceptions. This counter uses the standard heuristic (vowel groups with silent-e handling) — accurate within about ±5% on normal text. For a single critical word, check a dictionary.

Does it work for haiku?

Yes — type each line and watch the count. A traditional haiku is 5-7-5 syllables across three lines.

Why do syllables matter for readability?

Readability formulas like Flesch–Kincaid use syllables per word as a proxy for word difficulty: more syllables per word means denser text. Average English prose runs about 1.4 syllables per word; above 1.7 reads as technical or academic.

Is this a free online syllable counter?

Yes — this syllable counter is free, instant and runs entirely in your browser. Paste any text to count syllables, words and sentences at once; nothing is uploaded or stored.

Does it count syllables in other languages?

Yes. The counter uses per-script models: vowel groups for Latin-script languages (accents like á, ő or ç are handled), a vowel-per-letter model for Russian, Ukrainian, Bulgarian and Serbian, vowel groups for Greek, and akshara units for Hindi. Czech, Slovak and the Balkan languages also count syllabic r/l (so "vlna" is 2 syllables). For Chinese, Japanese and Thai, syllables aren't shown because a Latin-style model would be wrong.