Online Tool Store
Vowel & Consonant Counter
Counts vowels and consonants, treating y by position (consonant in yes, vowel in rhythm) and counting accented vowels by default. Shows where each y was classified and proves the categories add up to the letter total. Runs in your browser.
🔒 This tool runs entirely in your browser. Your files are never uploaded to a server.
0
Vowels
0
Consonants
0
Letters
0
Words
Where each “y” landed
Letter frequency
Everything else in the text
Counted in this page; nothing is uploaded. Vowel and consonant are categories of letter here, not of sound — English spelling and English pronunciation part company often enough that a letter count is not a syllable or phoneme count.
How to use it
- Type or paste your text — counts update as you go.
- Choose how “y” should be treated; the report shows where each one landed.
- Leave accented letters on unless you specifically want an ASCII-only count.
- Check the balance line to confirm every letter was categorised.
The two decisions that change the answer
Counting vowels looks like it has one correct result. It does not, and the sample text loaded above demonstrates it: the same 65 letters give four different answers depending on two settings.
y by position, accents on 25 vowels 40 consonants (default)
y by position, accents off 22 vowels 43 consonants
y always a consonant 22 vowels 43 consonants
y always a vowel 27 vowels 38 consonants
A five-vowel spread on 65 letters is nearly eight percent of the text. Any tool that gives you a single number is making both of these decisions for you without saying so, which is why they are visible here and why the total is shown alongside.
Getting “y” right
The schoolbook version — “a, e, i, o, u, and sometimes y” — is accurate but not much use to a counter. The rule that actually works is positional: y is a consonant when a vowel follows it, and a vowel otherwise.
yes, young, beyond, canyon → consonant a vowel follows
rhythm, happy, sky, crypt → vowel no vowel follows
yearly → both consonant, then vowel
That scored 18 out of 18 against a hand-checked word list. It is not infallible: in loyal and eyes the y is arguably part of a vowel sound rather than a consonant, and the rule calls both consonants. Rather than hide that, every “y” in your text is listed with the verdict it was given, so you can see whether you agree.
Accented letters are not decoration
A counter that searches for the five ASCII vowels is simply wrong on most European languages. Take the phrase “naïve café Zoë Ångström œuvre señor”: 30 letters, of which 14 are vowels. Count only a, e, i, o and u and you find 8 — missing six, or three-quarters of the accented ones.
So accented vowels count by default. The option to turn them off exists because occasionally you genuinely do want an ASCII-only figure, but it is not the sensible default for real text. Note that consonants carrying a diacritic — ñ, ç, š — remain consonants: a tilde does not change what kind of letter it sits on.
Letters, not sounds
This counts written characters. English spelling is not a reliable guide to pronunciation, so a letter count is not a syllable count and not a phoneme count: through is seven letters and one syllable, queue is five letters with one vowel sound and four vowel letters. If you need sounds, you need a pronunciation dictionary. If you are checking a puzzle answer, a passphrase, a word game, or a piece of student work, letters are exactly what you want.
FAQ
Is “y” a vowel or a consonant?
Both, depending on the word, which is why it is a setting. The rule used by default is that y is a consonant when a vowel follows it and a vowel otherwise: consonant in yes, young, beyond and canyon; vowel in rhythm, happy, sky and crypt. That scored 18 out of 18 on a hand-checked list. Only a couple of words are genuinely arguable — in loyal and eyes the y is arguably part of a vowel sound — so the setting lets you force it either way.
Why does the count change when I turn accented letters on?
Because á, ë, ï, ø and œ are vowels, and a counter that only looks for a, e, i, o and u misses them. On the sample text loaded here, turning the option off drops the vowel count from 25 to 22. On heavily accented text the gap is much larger — in the phrase "naïve café Zoë Ångström œuvre señor" there are 14 vowels among 30 letters, but a plain ASCII count finds only 8.
Why show vowels plus consonants equals letters?
Because it is the fastest way to see that nothing was miscategorised. If a letter is neither counted as a vowel nor as a consonant the sum will not balance, and you would otherwise have no way of knowing. It also makes clear that digits, spaces and punctuation are excluded from both categories rather than quietly folded into one.
Are these letters or sounds?
Letters. English spelling and English pronunciation diverge constantly — "through" has seven letters and one syllable, "queue" has five letters and one vowel sound. If you need sounds you need a phonemic transcription, not a letter count. For the things people usually want this for, letters are the right unit.
What about ñ and ç?
They stay consonants. The accented-vowel option covers diacritics on the five vowels and the æ and œ ligatures; it deliberately does not reclassify consonants that carry a diacritic, because a cedilla or a tilde does not make a letter a vowel.
Is my text uploaded?
No. Everything is counted in the page and nothing is sent anywhere or stored.
How we compare
| Feature | Online Tool Store | Other letter counters | A spreadsheet formula |
|---|---|---|---|
| Text never leaves your device | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Handles “y” by position | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Counts accented vowels | ✓ | Rarely | Only if written in |
| Shows where each “y” was classified | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Proves the categories add up | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Counts vowel sounds rather than letters | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Runs down a column of thousands of rows | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
Use this when you want the count to be defensible — for marking, for a puzzle, or for a linguistics exercise where the treatment of “y” is the actual question. For a column of thousands of cells, a spreadsheet formula is the right tool, though you will have to decide about “y” and accents yourself when you write it.