Syllables Study Guide

What are Syllables?

Syllables are the basic units of pronunciation and are formed by the sounds of a word. Each syllable contains a vowel sound, and may also contain one or more consonants.

How to Identify Syllables

There are a few rules to help identify the number of syllables in a word:

If a word ends in a vowel, it is usually a single syllable. For example, "me" has one syllable.
If a word ends in a consonant, it may have more than one syllable. For example, "butter" has two syllables.
When in doubt, try clapping the word out loud. Each clap represents a syllable. For example, "elephant" has three syllables (e-le-phant).

Dividing Words into Syllables

Dividing words into syllables can be helpful when pronouncing or spelling difficult words. Here are some common rules for dividing words into syllables:

Divide between two middle consonants. For example, "hap-py".
Divide before the consonant before the vowel in the second syllable. For example, "ba-nana".
Divide before the suffix "-le" or "-sion". For example, "ta-ble" and "expan-sion".