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First we have to know the number of words in the English language. [The Oxford English Dictionary-Second Edition (OED2) listed about 616,500 in 2005, and Webster's Dictionary lists a similar number. However, it is estimated that over 60 new words are added to the English language every day.]

We also need to agree on what counts as a word. Is 'saw' - a tool for cutting wood- the same as 'saw' -the past simple of see? And is saw and sawing two words, the second being a grammatical variant of the first?

Next we need to know how many single syllable words are in the English language. And is the word oil one syllable or two? Dr P E Fischer Ph.D. lists over 3,500 one-syllable English words in her word-list book written for teachers of English to children.

Using 3,500 as a conservative estimate of one syllable words, there means there would be over 612,000 words of two or more syllables. But even if we double that figure arbitrarily to 7,000 one-syllable words, that still gives us almost 610,000multi-syllabic words. However, given that the English langauge is also increasing by some 25,000 words per year, by the time you read this, all the above figures will already be hopelessly out of date!

So how many (English) words have more than one syllable? Lots! And more today than yesterday!

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