Count syllables in any word or text. Word-by-word breakdown, per-sentence averages, and meter helpers for haiku, tanka, limerick, and iambic pentameter.
Enter text on 3 separate lines to check the 5-7-5 haiku pattern. Haiku Checker tool →
| Form | Pattern | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Haiku | 5-7-5 (3 lines) | Japanese form, often nature-focused |
| Tanka | 5-7-5-7-7 (5 lines) | Older than haiku; love and seasonal themes |
| Senryu | 5-7-5 (3 lines) | Same shape as haiku but human / ironic subject |
| Cinquain | 2-4-6-8-2 (5 lines) | Adelaide Crapsey form, English origin |
| Limerick | ~9-9-6-6-9 (5 lines, AABBA rhyme) | Anapestic, humorous |
| Iambic pentameter | 10 syllables / line | Shakespeare, alternating unstressed-stressed |
| Iambic tetrameter | 8 syllables / line | Common in hymns and ballads |
| Sonnet (Shakespearean) | 14 lines × 10 syllables | ABAB CDCD EFEF GG rhyme |
| Word | Syllables | Word | Syllables |
|---|---|---|---|
| beautiful | 3 | information | 4 |
| every | 2 or 3 | important | 3 |
| education | 4 | different | 3 |
| interesting | 3 or 4 | experience | 4 |
| orange | 2 | chocolate | 3 |
| fire | 1 or 2 | hour | 1 or 2 |
| poem | 2 | poet | 2 |
| family | 3 | history | 3 |
| memory | 3 | theatre | 2 or 3 |
| science | 2 | scientific | 4 |
| idea | 3 | area | 3 |
| real | 1 or 2 | create | 2 |
| laughter | 2 | library | 3 or 4 |
| chocolatey | 4 | onomatopoeia | 6 |
| antidisestablishmentarianism | 12 | rhythm | 2 |
Several words have dialect-dependent counts. American English typically smooths "fire" and "hour" into one syllable; British English often pronounces them as two. For poetry follow the meter; for speech follow how you actually say the word aloud.
A syllable is a unit of pronunciation built around one vowel sound. "Water" has two syllables (wa-ter), "beautiful" has three (beau-ti-ful). Every word has at least one syllable.
The simplest method is to count the vowel sounds. Place your hand under your chin, say the word slowly, and count how many times your jaw drops - that's the syllable count. Silent "e" at the end usually does not count.
"Beautiful" has three syllables: beau-ti-ful. The "eau" forms a single vowel sound, and the silent "-ful" still counts because it contains a vowel.
Words like "fire", "hour", "power", and "poem" are dialect-dependent. Most American speakers say them as one syllable; many British and poetic readings treat them as two. For poetry, follow the meter; for speech analysis, follow the spoken form.
A haiku is a Japanese poem with three lines following a 5-7-5 syllable pattern. Five syllables on line one, seven on line two, five on line three. Modern haiku in English sometimes loosen the count, but 5-7-5 remains the classic teaching form.
A tanka is a five-line Japanese poem with a 5-7-5-7-7 syllable pattern. It is older than haiku and traditionally written about love or nature.
A traditional limerick has five lines. Lines 1, 2, and 5 have 7 to 10 syllables and rhyme; lines 3 and 4 have 5 to 7 syllables and rhyme with each other. The meter is anapestic (da-da-DUM).
Iambic pentameter is a line of poetry with ten syllables alternating unstressed and stressed (da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM). Shakespeare's sonnets are written in iambic pentameter. To check, count to ten syllables per line.
The tool uses a rule-based vowel-group algorithm that handles ~95% of common English words correctly. Edge cases like "fire", "hour", or rare loanwords ("souvenir") may differ by dialect. For poetry submission, always verify by reading aloud.
The algorithm is tuned for English vowel patterns. It will produce a number for any Latin-alphabet text but the counts will be unreliable for languages with different syllable rules. For Japanese mora counting in transliterated romaji, treat each vowel-final group as one mora.