How to use the word counter
- 1Paste or type your text into the box.
- 2Read the totals beside the box: words, characters (with and without spaces), sentences and paragraphs.
- 3Check Reading time and drag the slider if you read faster or slower than average.
- 4Use Most-used words to spot words you repeat. Press Copy to copy your text back out.
Example
Well-known tools save time. Try it: paste this sentence!
Words: 9 Characters: 56 Characters without spaces: 48 Sentences: 2
“Well-known” counts as one word because the hyphen joins two parts of the same word.
How words are counted (hyphens, numbers, contractions)
A word is any run of letters or digits. Hyphenated words (“well-known”) and contractions (“don't”) count as one word, and numbers such as “2026” count as words. Punctuation, emoji and symbols on their own are not words.
Word processors split text in slightly different ways, for example at slashes (“and/or”) or long dashes, so Microsoft Word or Google Docs may differ from this counter by a word or two on long documents.
Characters, sentences and paragraphs
Characters includes every letter, digit, space, punctuation mark and line break. Without spaces leaves out spaces, tabs and line breaks, which is the figure some application forms ask for.
A sentence ends at a full stop, question mark or exclamation mark followed by a space or the end of the text, so abbreviations such as “e.g.” can add an extra sentence. A paragraph is a block of text separated from the next by a blank line.
Reading and speaking time
Reading time is your word count divided by your reading speed. The default of 238 words per minute is the average silent reading rate for adults reading non-fiction in English, from a 2019 review of 190 studies (Brysbaert, Journal of Memory and Language). Technical text is usually read more slowly, so adjust the slider if you are writing for specialists.
Speaking time uses 140 words per minute, a comfortable pace for a presentation or speech.
Most-used words and phrases
The list shows the ten words you use most, with how many times each appears and its share of the total. Short function words (“the”, “and”, “of”) are left out because every text repeats them. If one topic word dominates, the keyword density checker also counts two- and three-word phrases.
Typical word counts for essays, articles and posts
| Text | Usual length |
|---|---|
| College application essay | 250–650 words |
| News article | 400–800 words |
| Blog post | 800–2,000 words |
| 5-minute speech | about 700 words |
| One double-spaced page (12 pt) | about 250–300 words |
For page estimates in different fonts and spacings, see how many pages is 1,000 words.
Is my text private?
This tool runs entirely in your browser. Your text is not uploaded to our servers.