Попробуйте
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
using namespace std;
int WordOccurrenceCount( std::string const & str, std::string const & word )
{
int count(0);
std::string::size_type word_pos( 0 );
while ( word_pos!=std::string::npos )
{
word_pos = str.find(word, word_pos );
if ( word_pos != std::string::npos )
{
++count;
// start next search after this word
word_pos += word.length();
}
}
return count;
}
int main()
{
string sting1="theeee peeeearl is in theeee riveeeer";
string word1="e";
cout<<word1<<" occurs "<<WordOccurrenceCount(sting1,word1)<<" times in ["<<sting1 <<"] \n\n";
return 0;
}