Syllable Hub

About Syllable Hub

Updated

Syllable Hub is a free reference for counting syllables. It has a syllable counter, a haiku checker, word lists sorted by syllable count and guides to how syllables work. The aim is to show a number and the reason for it, with the source named.

Method

Counts come from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. Each entry lists a word’s pronunciation as phonemes, and the vowel phonemes carry a stress digit (1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed). The count for a pronunciation is the number of phonemes with a digit. When a word has several listed pronunciations, the lowest and highest counts are both kept and the first listed one is the number shown. Entries written as word(2) in the file are merged into word.

The dictionary is a list of pronunciations, so it reflects one usual way of saying a word and not every accent. Words that are not in it (names, new words, digits, abbreviations) are flagged and left out of totals, never guessed. Entries with no vowel phoneme at all, such as interjections like “hmm”, are also treated as unknown.

Word lists

The word lists are generated from the same dictionary by a script in the site’s repository. A word goes in the list for N syllables only if every one of its pronunciations has exactly N vowel phonemes; words whose pronunciations disagree go in the table of words with two valid counts. A word must be written in lowercase letters only, must appear in the ENABLE word list (which removes most names and obscure entries), and must not be on a blocklist of offensive words.

Sources and credits

CMU Pronouncing Dictionary licence

Copyright (C) 1993-2015 Carnegie Mellon University. All rights reserved.

Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
are met:

1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
   notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
   The contents of this file are deemed to be source code.

2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
   notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in
   the documentation and/or other materials provided with the
   distribution.

This work was supported in part by funding from the Defense Advanced
Research Projects Agency, the Office of Naval Research and the National
Science Foundation of the United States of America, and by member
companies of the Carnegie Mellon Sphinx Speech Consortium. We acknowledge
the contributions of many volunteers to the expansion and improvement of
this dictionary.

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY ``AS IS'' AND
ANY EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO,
THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED.  IN NO EVENT SHALL CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY
NOR ITS EMPLOYEES BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL,
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LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE,
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(INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE
OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.

Limits

A dictionary count is not a ruling. Pronunciations vary by accent and by speaker, a poem or song may ask for a different reading than the usual one, and the dictionary does not cover every word. Where a word has two valid counts the tools show both.

Who runs this site

Syllable Hub is run by its owner as an independent reference site. It is not affiliated with Carnegie Mellon University. Guides are published under the site name; no individual author or credentials are claimed.

Reporting a wrong count

If a count looks wrong, check first whether the word has two valid counts. If it still looks wrong, tell us the word, the count you expected and why, using the details on the contact page.