How many syllables in “playful”?
“playful” has 2 syllables: play·ful
IPA
/ˈpleɪ.fəl/
Stress
PLAY-ful (pattern 1-0)
Division
play·ful
Pronunciation
| Say it like | IPA | Syllables | Count | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PLAY-ful | /ˈpleɪ.fəl/ | p l ey · 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)
play·ful
Morphemes (2)
play + -ful
The syllable breaks of playful (play·ful) line up with its morphemes (play + -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 "playful"?
"playful" has two syllables: play·ful.
How do you divide "playful" into syllables?
play·ful. The syllable breaks of playful (play·ful) line up with its morphemes (play + -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.