syllables

library1.1.5pypypi✓ verified 83d ago

A Python package for estimating the number of syllables in words, based on the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. Current version 1.1.5 (2026-01-11), released on PyPI about every 1-6 months with dependency fixes.

ai-ml data

pip install syllables

github ↗package ↗

INSTALL

IMPORT

SIG · SYLLABLES

syllables

ai-mlpythonv1.1.5

harness data pending

Install & Compatibility

Where this runs

No compatibility data collected yet for this library.

Code

Verified usage

Verified import paths — ran on the pinned version, not inferred.

estimate

✓ from syllables import estimate

Estimate syllable count for given words.

from syllables import estimate print(estimate('hello')) # Output: 2 print(estimate('cat')) # Output: 1 print(estimate('world')) # Output: 1

Debug

Known issues

deprecatedThe module 'syllables' was previously named 'syllables' but some old code may reference 'syllables.syllables' or 'from syllables import get_syllable_count'. Only 'from syllables import estimate' is correct.

fix

Change imports to 'from syllables import estimate'.

affects: 1.0.7+

gotchaThe function is case-insensitive since v1.0.7, but non-ASCII words may not be in the CMU dictionary and will fall back to a naive estimate.

fix

Test with non-English words; consider preprocessing.

affects: 1.0.7+

gotchaThe package uses the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, which covers only American English. Words not in the dictionary (e.g., proper nouns, abbreviations) are estimated using a simple vowel-group count heuristic, which can be inaccurate.

fix

Check if the output is -1 for unknown words (actually estimate returns a count for anything; use try-except? No exception, just fallback). Ensure inputs are English words.

affects: All

Errors

Common errors & fixes

ImportError: cannot import name 'get_syllable_count' from 'syllables'

The function was renamed from 'get_syllable_count' to 'estimate' in an older version (v1.0.7+).

fix

Replace 'from syllables import get_syllable_count' with 'from syllables import estimate' and call 'estimate(word)'.

ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'syllables'

Package not installed or environment not activated.

fix

Run 'pip install syllables'.

AttributeError: module 'syllables' has no attribute 'estimate'

The installed version is too old (pre-1.0.7) or the import is wrong.

fix

Upgrade: 'pip install --upgrade syllables'. Use 'from syllables import estimate'.

Upgrade

Version history

1.1.5latest on PyPI · released Jan 11, 2026

Audit

Dependencies

cmudictrequiredProvides the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary word-to-phoneme mappings.

Agent activity

9 hits · last 30 days

node

OpenAI (training)

Resources

githubhttps://github.com/prosegrinder/python-syllables ↗

packagehttps://pypi.org/project/syllables/ ↗