Forum Discussion
Delete cells with exactly three syllables
If you had been intending to identify word length in syllables, you would need a pronunciation source, such as most dictionaries. The Gutenberg Project offers (for free) this old-but-undated Webster's Unabridged Dictionary that could be used for that; the extraction of words and their syllable counts would include significant VBA coding. But the derived word forms (noun plurals, verb tenses, etc.) would be incomplete, and as this is an old work, some word spellings have changed, some pronunciations have changed, and other words were then not yet in use.
Identifying the number of consonants is more straightforward, but the sometimes-vowels Y and W cause a problem. See the attached workbook for more information and a partial solution. The count of consonants can mostly be done with formulas (I used helper columns). But to "delete" words requires a script; I include VBA code for that in the workbook. (The workbook is not macro-enabled; I will assume that you know how to create and edit macros.)
Edit: The forum software again loses a file that I attached (but it was not the one I intended anyway). Trying again...
Edit #2: Well that failed also. So access the workbook on OneDrive: 2025-10-02 RAHI words containing 3 consonants.xlsx
Thank you very much for taking the time to respond. I tried your method and ran into a bit of a snag.
it seems I am doing something incorrect here. any chance you could inform me what it is?
I used the defined name words. You may use the range reference in its place.
I swapped it to the rang reference and it's still throwing a name error? Any insight you could offer on this?
It's likely your version of Excel does not have access to those functions.
you were in fact correct. The version I was using was from 2016 and did not support those functions. After upgrading to the most recent version, this function worked. Thank you!