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A syllable is a unit of sound. It can be a vowel, a diphthong, or one or more vowels combined with one or more consonants.

Single-syllable words can be formed using one letter or many letters.

a

be

six

look

bought

In most English dictionaries, words that are more than one syllable are divided by a dot or space between the syllables.

Click on the example words to hear the difference between words with one, two, three, and four syllables.

1	2	3	4
through	ex·it	po·ta·to	in·cred·i·ble

Syllable Stress
English words that are polysyllabic (have more than one syllable) always have one syllable that is stressed. In most English dictionaries, the stressed syllable is indicated by a stress mark, a symbol that resembles an apostrophe. The stress mark follows the syllable that is stressed.

For example, in the word incredible, the second syllable (-cred-) is stressed. Here are some examples.

2	3	4
ex′it	op′po·site	Feb′ru·ar·y
hu′mid	ex·am′ine	in·cred′i·ble
ma·chine′	em·ploy·ee′	psy·cho′lo·gy

In English, most two-syllable nouns are stressed on the first syllable.

A′pril	car′rot	hon′or	fa′ther
Mon′day	le′mon	e′vil	Mar′y

Putting stress on the correct syllable is especially important for words that are both nouns and verbs. Usually, if the stress is placed on the first syllable it is a noun. If the stress is placed on the second syllable it is a verb.

noun	verb
con′test	con·test′
de′fect	de·fect′
in′sert	in·sert′
ob′ject	ob·ject′
pre′sent	pre·sent′
pro′test	pro·test′
re′call	re·call′
re′cord	re·cord′