Multisyllabic words

Words having ‘two or more’ syllables are referred to as ‘multisyllabic’ words. An individual vowel sound, sometimes accompanied by a consonant, makes up a ‘syllable.’ A syllable is a word’s “portion, or chunk.” The most prevalent ‘syllable patterns’ in multisyllabic words are “vc|cv, v|cv, vc|v, and v|v.”

More than one syllable words can “have more than one type of syllable, as in the word complete,” or have one type of syllable, as in the word napkin. Complete (2 syllables: com-plete) i.e., Com is Closed syllable (short vowel ‘o’ followed by the consonant ‘m’) and Plete is Vowel-consonant-e syllable (where the silent ‘e’ makes the vowel long). Napkin (2 syllables: nap-kin) i.e., Nap is Closed syllable (short vowel ‘a’ followed by a consonant ‘p’) and Kin is also Closed syllable (short vowel ‘i’ followed by a consonant ‘n’).

A ‘base or root’ word that conveys the main meaning of a ‘multisyllabic word’ is frequently joined with affixes (like prefixes and suffixes) to change the word’s ‘meaning or grammatical’ function. E.g., misunderstanding → mis (prefix) + understand (root) + ing (suffix).

In many multisyllabic words, one syllable is “stressed” (longer, louder, or emphasized) while the others are “unstressed” (weaker, shorter, or quieter). The unstressed syllable often contains a schwa (/ə/) vowel sound, which is a ‘neutral, relaxed’ vowel sound found in many unstressed syllables in English. In ‘banana,’ the first and last syllables are unstressed, with the schwa sound (/bəˈnænə/).

2 syllable words	3 syllable words	4 syllable words
apple (ap-ple). bacon (ba-con). balloon (bal-loon). basket (bas-ket). biscuit (bis-cuit). bucket (buck-et). bumper (bump-er). butter (but-ter). cactus (cac-tus). candle (can-dle). candy (can-dy). captain (cap-tain). clever (clev-er). crayon (cray-on). daisy (dai-sy). dancer (danc-er). desert (de-sert). digger (dig-ger). dinner (din-ner). donkey (don-key). dragon (drag-on). driver (driv-er). eagle (ea-gle). elder (el-der). father (fa-ther). faucet (fau-cet). flower (flow-er). forest (for-est). gadget (gadg-et). garden (gar-den). ginger (gin-ger). guitar (gui-tar). hammer (ham-mer). helmet (hel-met). iceberg (ice-berg). icecream (ice-cream). jacket (jack-et). jungle (jun-gle). kettle (ket-tle). kidney (kid-ney). kitten (kit-ten). ladder (lad-der). lizard (liz-ard). lemon (lem-on). magic (mag-ic). mango (man-go). market (mar-ket). miner (min-er). mirror (mir-ror). monster (mon-ster). muffin (muf-fin). music (mu-sic). nectar (nec-tar). ninja (nin-ja). notebook (note-book). ocean (o-cean). orange (or-ange). parrot (par-rot). peanut (pea-nut). pencil (pen-cil). penguin (pen-guin). pumpkin (pump-kin). puppet (pup-pet). quilted (quilt-ed). rabbit (rab-bit). rainbow (rain-bow). rocket (rock-et). sailboat (sail-boat). sailor (sail-or). sandwich (sand-wich). salmon (salm-on). scandal (scan-dal). scissors (scis-sors). shovel (shov-el). sister (sis-ter). spider (spi-der). strongly (strong-ly). surprise (sur-prise). table (ta-ble). temper (tem-per). tennis (ten-nis). tiger (ti-ger). tinsel (tin-sel). turtle (tur-tle). velvet (vel-vet). waffle (waf-fle). whisker (whisk-er). whistle (whis-tle). wicked (wick-ed). window (win-dow). writer (writ-er). yogurt (yo-gurt). zebra (ze-bra). zipper (zip-per).	abolish (a-bol-ish). adventure (ad-ven-ture). ambition (am-bi-tion). ambulance (am-bu-lance). animal (an-i-mal). aspirin (as-pi-rin). athletic (ath-let-ic). banana (ba-nan-a). beautiful (beau-ti-ful). butterfly (but-ter-fly). calendar (cal-en-dar). chocolate (choc-o-late). circumstance (cir-cum-stance). concentrate (con-cen-trate). confidence (con-fi-dence). corruption (cor-rup-tion). cottonwood (cot-ton-wood). crocodile (croc-o-dile). dangerous (dan-ger-ous). delicious (de-li-cious). demonstrate (dem-on-strate). designer (de-sign-er). dinosaur (di-no-saur). disaster (dis-as-ter). elephant (el-e-phant). energy (en-er-gy). example (ex-am-ple). exercise (ex-er-cise). fahrenheit (fahr-en-heit). family (fam-i-ly). fantasy (fan-ta-sy). festival (fes-ti-val). fortunate (for-tu-nate). foundation (foun-da-tion). frustration (frus-tra-tion). gallery (gal-ler-y). gratitude (grat-i-tude). happiness (hap-pi-ness). harmonize (har-mo-nize). harmony (har-mo-ny). heroic (he-ro-ic). holiday (hol-i-day). hurricane (hur-ri-cane). illustrate (il-lus-trate). imagine (im-ag-ine). important (im-por-tant). innocent (in-no-cent). instrument (in-stru-ment). introduce (in-tro-duce). internet (in-ter-net). kangaroo (kan-ga-roo). lavender (lav-en-der). library (li-brar-y). longitude (lon-gi-tude). lullaby (lull-a-by). manuscript (man-u-script). marathon (mar-a-thon). medicine (med-i-cine). musical (mu-si-cal). mystery (mys-ter-y). nocturnal (noc-tur-nal). obstacle (ob-sta-cle). obvious (ob-vi-ous). october (oc-to-ber). oxygen (ox-y-gen). overload (o-ver-load). parliament (par-lia-ment). performance (per-for-mance). permission (per-mis-sion). photograph (pho-to-graph). pineapple (pine-ap-ple). pollution (pol-lu-tion). potato (po-ta-to). practical (prac-ti-cal). president (pres-i-dent). progressive (pro-gres-sive). pumpkin (pump-kin). pyramid (pyr-a-mid). qualified (qual-i-fied). recognize (rec-og-nize). rocketship (rock-et-ship). sandpaper (sand-pa-per). saturday (sat-ur-day). sensitive (sen-si-tive). signature (sig-na-ture). sociable (so-cia-ble). suspicion (sus-pi-cion). telephone (tel-e-phone). terrible (ter-ri-ble). tornado (tor-na-do). trampoline (tram-po-line). translation (trans-la-tion). triangle (tri-an-gle). umbrella (um-brel-la) unicorn (u-ni-corn). universe (u-ni-verse). vacation (va-ca-tion). victory (vic-to-ry). visitor (vis-i-tor). volcano (vol-ca-no). volleyball (vol-ley-ball). waterfall (wa-ter-fall). whispering (whis-per-ing). wilderness (wil-der-ness). wonderful (won-der-ful). woodpecker (wood-peck-er). xylophone (xy-lo-phone). yesterday (yes-ter-day). zookeeper (zoo-keep-er).	accidental (ac-ci-den-tal). acknowledgment (ac-knowl-edg-ment). acquisition (ac-qui-si-tion). acupuncture (ac-u-punc-ture). adolescent (ad-o-les-cent). advantageous (ad-van-ta-geous). adventurous (ad-ven-tur-ous). affectionate (af-fec-tion-ate). algebraic (al-ge-bra-ic). ambassador (am-bas-sa-dor). anecdotal (an-ec-do-tal). appetizer (ap-pe-tiz-er). application (ap-pli-ca-tion). arithmetic (a-rith-me-tic). articulate (ar-tic-u-late). atmospheric (at-mos-pher-ic). automobile (au-to-mo-bile). beautifully (beau-ti-ful-ly). beneficial (ben-e-fi-cial). california (cal-i-for-nia). capitalism (cap-i-tal-ism). carbohydrate (car-bo-hy-drate). casanova (cas-a-no-va). caterpillar (cat-er-pil-lar). celebration (cel-e-bra-tion). centimeter (cen-ti-me-ter). culmination (cul-mi-na-tion). comparative (com-par-a-tive). conditioner (con-di-tion-er). cooperate (co-op-er-ate). corporation (cor-po-ra-tion). curriculum (cur-ric-u-lum). dandelion (dan-de-li-on). deliberate (de-lib-er-ate). dedication (ded-i-ca-tion). deficiency (de-fi-cien-cy). democracy (de-moc-ra-cy). demonstration (dem-on-stra-tion). dictionary (dic-tion-ar-y). discovery (dis-cov-er-y). education (ed-u-ca-tion). electoral (e-lec-tor-al). entertainment (en-ter-tain-ment). environment (en-vi-ron-ment). ephemeral (e-phem-er-al). exaggerate (ex-ag-ger-ate). experiment (ex-per-i-ment). exploration (ex-plo-ra-tion). fascination (fas-ci-na-tion). felicity (fe-lic-i-ty). generation (gen-er-a-tion). generator (gen-er-a-tor). geography (ge-og-ra-phy). illiterate (il-lit-er-ate). illusionist (il-lu-sion-ist). illustrative (il-lus-tra-tive). independence (in-de-pend-ence). incredible (in-cred-i-ble). information (in-for-ma-tion). innovation (in-no-va-tion). inspiration (in-spi-ra-tion). intelligence (in-tel-li-gence). insulation (in-su-la-tion). intelligent (in-tel-li-gent). interruption (in-ter-rup-tion). introduction (in-tro-duc-tion). invincible (in-vin-ci-ble). irrational (ir-ra-tion-al). legislation (leg-is-la-tion). liberation (lib-er-a-tion). literature (lit-er-a-ture). observation (ob-ser-va-tion). operation (op-er-a-tion). magnificent (mag-nif-i-cent). mechanical (me-chan-i-cal). memorable (mem-o-ra-ble). metabolism (me-tab-o-lism). microscopic (mi-cro-scop-ic). militarism (mil-i-ta-rism). millennium (mil-len-ni-um). minimalism (min-i-mal-ism). negligently (neg-li-gent-ly). negotiate (ne-go-ti-ate). operator (op-er-a-tor). patriarchy (pa-tri-arch-y). population (pop-u-la-tion). portfolio (port-fo-li-o). precipitate (pre-cip-i-tate). preferable (pref-er-a-ble). preparation (prep-a-ra-tion). presentation (pres-en-ta-tion). professional (pro-fes-sion-al). promotional (pro-mo-tion-al). proportional (pro-por-tion-al). prosperity (pros-per-i-ty). psychiatrist (psy-chi-a-trist). psychology (psy-chol-o-gy). radiation (ra-di-a-tion). radiator (ra-di-a-tor). recognition (rec-og-ni-tion). regulation (reg-u-la-tion). reputation (rep-u-ta-tion). reservation (res-er-va-tion). respectable (re-spect-a-ble). respectively (re-spec-tive-ly). romanticism (ro-man-ti-cism). salamander (sal-a-man-der). satisfaction (sat-is-fac-tion). scientific (sci-en-tif-ic). secretary (sec-re-tar-y). segregation (seg-re-ga-tion). separation (sep-a-ra-tion). significant (sig-nif-i-cant). situation (sit-u-a-tion). spectacular (spec-tac-u-lar). television (tel-e-vi-sion). temperature (tem-per-a-ture). thermometer (ther-mom-e-ter). tolerable (tol-er-a-ble). transformation (trans-for-ma-tion). transportation (trans-por-ta-tion). uncertainty (un-cer-tain-ty). unhappiness (un-hap-pi-ness). vaccination (vac-ci-na-tion). valuable (val-u-a-ble). vegetable (veg-e-ta-ble). vegetation (veg-e-ta-tion). voluntary (vol-un-tar-y). watermelon (wa-ter-mel-on).

5 syllable words	6 syllable words
abbreviation (ab-bre-vi-a-tion). acceleration (ac-cel-er-a-tion). accidentally (ac-ci-den-tal-ly). administration (ad-min-is-tra-tion). agricultural (ag-ri-cul-tur-al). anniversary (an-ni-ver-sa-ry). appreciation (ap-pre-ci-a-tion). appreciative (ap-pre-ci-a-tive). aphrodisiac (aph-ro-dis-i-ac). articulately (ar-tic-u-late-ly). astrological (as-tro-log-i-cal). authorization (au-thor-i-za-tion). bibliography (bib-li-og-ra-phy). celebratory (cel-e-bra-tor-y). ceremonial (cer-e-mo-ni-al). classification (clas-si-fi-ca-tion). communication (com-mu-ni-ca-tion). complementary (com-ple-men-ta-ry). consideration (con-sid-er-a-tion). constitutional (con-sti-tu-tion-al). contemporary (con-tem-po-rar-y). continuation (con-tin-u-a-tion). continuously (con-tin-u-ous-ly). cooperation (co-op-er-a-tion). creativity (cre-a-tiv-i-ty). deforestation (de-for-est-a-tion). determination (de-ter-mi-na-tion). diabolical (di-a-bol-i-cal). disability (dis-a-bil-i-ty). dissimilarly (dis-sim-i-lar-ly). elementary (el-e-men-ta-ry). elevation (el-e-va-tion). elimination (e-lim-i-na-tion). emotionally (e-mo-tion-al-ly). entrepreneurship (en-tre-pre-neur-ship). exaggeration (ex-ag-ger-a-tion). explanatory (ex-plan-a-to-ry). fundamentally (fun-da-men-tal-ly). generosity (gen-er-os-i-ty). geological (ge-o-log-i-cal). hippopotamus (hip-po-pot-a-mus). hospitality (hos-pi-tal-i-ty). hypocritical (hyp-o-crit-i-cal). hypothalamus (hy-po-thal-a-mus). iconography (i-co-nog-ra-phy). illiteracy (il-lit-er-a-cy). imagination (im-ag-i-na-tion). implementation (im-ple-men-ta-tion). improvisation (im-prov-i-sa-tion). inequality (in-e-qual-i-ty). investigation (in-ves-ti-ga-tion). irregularly (ir-reg-u-lar-ly). irresponsibly (ir-re-spon-si-bly). laboratory (lab-o-ra-to-ry). manufacturing (man-u-fac-tur-ing). materialism (ma-te-ri-al-ism). mathematical (math-e-mat-i-cal). mediocrity (me-di-oc-ri-ty). multiplication (mul-ti-pli-ca-tion). necessarily (nec-es-sar-i-ly). opportunity (op-por-tu-ni-ty). organization (or-gan-i-za-tion). orthogonally (or-thog-o-nal-ly). overestimate (o-ver-es-ti-mate). participation (par-tic-i-pa-tion). perpendicular (per-pen-dic-u-lar). personality (per-son-al-i-ty). possibility (pos-si-bil-i-ty). preliminary (pre-lim-i-nar-y). quadrilateral (quad-ri-lat-er-al). qualification (qual-i-fi-ca-tion). refrigerator (re-frig-er-a-tor). solidarity (sol-i-dar-i-ty). specification (spec-i-fi-ca-tion). subterranean (sub-ter-ra-ne-an). terminology (ter-mi-nol-o-gy). trigonometry (trig-o-nom-e-try). unbelievable (un-be-liev-a-ble). uncomfortable (un-com-fort-a-ble). uniformity (u-ni-form-i-ty). university (u-ni-ver-si-ty). vegetarian (veg-e-tar-i-an). verifiable (ver-i-fi-a-ble). verification (ver-i-fi-ca-tion). vocabulary (vo-cab-u-lar-y). zoological (zo-o-log-i-cal).	anatomically (an-a-tom-i-cal-ly). beneficiary (ben-e-fi-ci-ar-y). cardiovascular (car-di-o-vas-cu-lar) categorization (cat-e-go-ri-za-tion). economically (ec-o-nom-i-cal-ly). electrification (e-lec-tri-fi-ca-tion). encyclopedia (en-cy-clo-pe-di-a). geometrically (ge-o-met-ri-cal-ly). identification (i-den-ti-fi-ca-tion). individually (in-di-vid-u-al-ly). meteorology (me-te-or-ol-o-gy). responsibility (re-spon-si-bil-i-ty). revolutionary (rev-o-lu-tion-ar-y). superiority (su-pe-ri-or-i-ty). systematically (sys-tem-at-i-cal-ly). vulnerability (vul-ner-a-bil-i-ty).

5 syllable words

6 syllable words

abbreviation (ab-bre-vi-a-tion). acceleration (ac-cel-er-a-tion). accidentally (ac-ci-den-tal-ly). administration (ad-min-is-tra-tion). agricultural (ag-ri-cul-tur-al). anniversary (an-ni-ver-sa-ry). appreciation (ap-pre-ci-a-tion). appreciative (ap-pre-ci-a-tive). aphrodisiac (aph-ro-dis-i-ac). articulately (ar-tic-u-late-ly). astrological (as-tro-log-i-cal). authorization (au-thor-i-za-tion). bibliography (bib-li-og-ra-phy). celebratory (cel-e-bra-tor-y). ceremonial (cer-e-mo-ni-al). classification (clas-si-fi-ca-tion). communication (com-mu-ni-ca-tion). complementary (com-ple-men-ta-ry). consideration (con-sid-er-a-tion). constitutional (con-sti-tu-tion-al). contemporary (con-tem-po-rar-y). continuation (con-tin-u-a-tion). continuously (con-tin-u-ous-ly). cooperation (co-op-er-a-tion). creativity (cre-a-tiv-i-ty). deforestation (de-for-est-a-tion). determination (de-ter-mi-na-tion). diabolical (di-a-bol-i-cal). disability (dis-a-bil-i-ty). dissimilarly (dis-sim-i-lar-ly). elementary (el-e-men-ta-ry). elevation (el-e-va-tion). elimination (e-lim-i-na-tion). emotionally (e-mo-tion-al-ly). entrepreneurship (en-tre-pre-neur-ship). exaggeration (ex-ag-ger-a-tion). explanatory (ex-plan-a-to-ry). fundamentally (fun-da-men-tal-ly). generosity (gen-er-os-i-ty). geological (ge-o-log-i-cal). hippopotamus (hip-po-pot-a-mus). hospitality (hos-pi-tal-i-ty). hypocritical (hyp-o-crit-i-cal). hypothalamus (hy-po-thal-a-mus). iconography (i-co-nog-ra-phy). illiteracy (il-lit-er-a-cy). imagination (im-ag-i-na-tion). implementation (im-ple-men-ta-tion). improvisation (im-prov-i-sa-tion). inequality (in-e-qual-i-ty). investigation (in-ves-ti-ga-tion). irregularly (ir-reg-u-lar-ly). irresponsibly (ir-re-spon-si-bly). laboratory (lab-o-ra-to-ry). manufacturing (man-u-fac-tur-ing). materialism (ma-te-ri-al-ism). mathematical (math-e-mat-i-cal). mediocrity (me-di-oc-ri-ty). multiplication (mul-ti-pli-ca-tion). necessarily (nec-es-sar-i-ly). opportunity (op-por-tu-ni-ty). organization (or-gan-i-za-tion). orthogonally (or-thog-o-nal-ly). overestimate (o-ver-es-ti-mate). participation (par-tic-i-pa-tion). perpendicular (per-pen-dic-u-lar). personality (per-son-al-i-ty). possibility (pos-si-bil-i-ty). preliminary (pre-lim-i-nar-y). quadrilateral (quad-ri-lat-er-al). qualification (qual-i-fi-ca-tion). refrigerator (re-frig-er-a-tor). solidarity (sol-i-dar-i-ty). specification (spec-i-fi-ca-tion). subterranean (sub-ter-ra-ne-an). terminology (ter-mi-nol-o-gy). trigonometry (trig-o-nom-e-try). unbelievable (un-be-liev-a-ble). uncomfortable (un-com-fort-a-ble). uniformity (u-ni-form-i-ty). university (u-ni-ver-si-ty). vegetarian (veg-e-tar-i-an). verifiable (ver-i-fi-a-ble). verification (ver-i-fi-ca-tion). vocabulary (vo-cab-u-lar-y). zoological (zo-o-log-i-cal).

anatomically (an-a-tom-i-cal-ly). beneficiary (ben-e-fi-ci-ar-y). cardiovascular (car-di-o-vas-cu-lar) categorization (cat-e-go-ri-za-tion). economically (ec-o-nom-i-cal-ly). electrification (e-lec-tri-fi-ca-tion). encyclopedia (en-cy-clo-pe-di-a). geometrically (ge-o-met-ri-cal-ly). identification (i-den-ti-fi-ca-tion). individually (in-di-vid-u-al-ly). meteorology (me-te-or-ol-o-gy). responsibility (re-spon-si-bil-i-ty). revolutionary (rev-o-lu-tion-ar-y). superiority (su-pe-ri-or-i-ty). systematically (sys-tem-at-i-cal-ly). vulnerability (vul-ner-a-bil-i-ty).

Syllabification -

Syllabification is a useful instructional strategy to help students ‘decode’ multisyllabic words by breaking them down into manageable parts. The ‘important’ syllable division patterns are summarized as follows:

VC/CV Syllable Division Rule -

Pattern: Two consonants between two vowels (Vowel-Consonant/Consonant-Vowel).
How to Divide: Split the word between the two consonants. The first syllable of a VC/CV word is ‘closed’ (by a consonant) and therefore contains a short-vowel sound.
Example: “napkin” → nap/kin.
Why It Helps: This is one of the most ‘common’ and straightforward division patterns, making it easier for students to recognize syllables.

VC/V and V/CV Syllable Division Rule -

Pattern: One consonant between two vowels (Vowel-Consonant/Vowel or Vowel/Vowel-Consonant).
How to Divide: Approximately 75% of the time, the word is ‘split’ before the consonant (V/CV), opening up and ‘producing a long-vowel sound in’ the first syllable. And, approximately 25% of the time, the word is ‘split’ after the consonant (VC/V), closing up and ‘producing a short-vowel sound in’ the first syllable.
Examples: “vapor” → va/por (V/CV). “cabin” → cab/in (VC/V).
Why It Helps: Flexibility in applying this rule helps students recognize the correct pronunciation by trying both options.

VCC/CV and VC/CCV Syllable Division Rule -

Pattern: Three consonants between two vowels (Vowel-Consonant-Consonant/Consonant-Vowel or Vowel-Consonant/Consonant-Consonant-Vowel).
How to Divide: Split the word either ‘before or after’ the consonant blend, but keep blends together. That is, maintain the digraph/‘consonant blend’ in the same syllable.
Example: “complete” → com/plete (keep ‘pl’ together as a blend).
Why It Helps: Keeping “consonant blends” intact helps maintain the natural flow of sounds in words.

Consonant-le Division Rule -

Pattern: A consonant followed by “le” (e.g., C-le).
How to Divide: Divide the word just before the consonant that precedes ‘le,’ forming a separate syllable with ‘le.’
Examples: “wiggle” → wig/gle. “rifle” → ri/fle. “rifle” → ri/fle. “little” → lit/tle.
Why It Helps: Understanding the ‘consonant-le rule’ assists students in accurately identifying the ‘final syllable’ in words that contain this pattern.

That’s all friends.