How many syllables in “careful”?
“careful” has 2 syllables: care·ful
IPA
/ˈkɛɹ.fəl/
Stress
CARE-ful (pattern 1-0)
Division
care·ful
Pronunciation
| Say it like | IPA | Syllables | Count | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CARE-ful | /ˈkɛɹ.fəl/ | k eh r · f ah l | 2 | CMU dictionary |
Syllables are shown in ARPAbet (the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary's phoneme alphabet). Respellings put the stressed syllable in capitals.
Syllables vs. morphemes
Syllables (2)
care·ful
Morphemes (2)
care + -ful
The syllable breaks of careful (care·ful) line up with its morphemes (care + -ful): every morpheme boundary is also a syllable boundary, so the word divides the same way for a syllable count and for a morphology exercise.
Count syllables in your own text
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Open the syllable counter →Pronunciations from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. Hyphenation from the hyph_en_US patterns.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many syllables are in "careful"?
"careful" has two syllables: care·ful.
How do you divide "careful" into syllables?
care·ful. The syllable breaks of careful (care·ful) line up with its morphemes (care + -ful): every morpheme boundary is also a syllable boundary, so the word divides the same way for a syllable count and for a morphology exercise.
Is this syllable counter free?
Yes. The Fixie syllable counter is free, needs no signup, and runs in your browser; paste any text to count syllables, see stress and IPA.