Word Counter

What the Word Counter does

Use it to hit an essay's word target, trim a meta description, or pace a speech. Type or paste, and seven counts appear together and keep updating as you edit.

The character counter runs on the same engine and shows the same full set. This page leads with the word total and the time estimates, since those are the figures writers and speakers check most.

How it works

Words are counted by splitting your text on whitespace and counting the pieces, so a word is any run of characters with a space, tab or line break around it. Characters are counted two ways: the total length, and the length with all whitespace removed.

Sentences are runs that end in a full stop, question mark or exclamation mark, and paragraphs are blocks separated by a blank line. Reading and speaking times divide the word count by a typical pace.

Methodology

1. Step 1. Type or paste your text. It stays in your browser.
2. Step 2. Words = the text split on spaces, tabs and line breaks, then counted.
3. Step 3. Characters = total length; no-spaces = length with all whitespace stripped.
4. Step 4. Sentences = chunks ending in . ! or ?; paragraphs = blocks split by a blank line.
5. Step 5. Reading time = words ÷ 200; speaking time = words ÷ 130 (each at least 1 minute).

Reading and speaking time

200 words per minute is a common reading-speed assumption. Research puts adult silent reading nearer 238 wpm, so treat it as a rough guide. 130 wpm is a typical pace for a prepared talk. Each estimate is rounded up to at least one minute.

Assumptions

• A word is any run of non-whitespace characters, so hyphenated terms and standalone numbers each count as one.
• Reading time assumes 200 words per minute and speaking time 130 wpm. Your own pace varies with the material and the person.
• Sentences are detected by end punctuation (. ! ?), so an abbreviation like e.g. can be miscounted, and a heading with no full stop counts as one sentence.
• Characters are counted as the text's length, so an emoji built from several code points may add more than one.

Technical details

Standards and references

• Words per minute (reading): the tool uses 200 wpm. Meta-analyses of adult silent reading put the average closer to 238 wpm, so the estimate errs on the slow side.
• Words per minute (speaking): 130 wpm reflects a typical prepared-speech pace; conversational speech often runs 140 to 160 wpm.

Accuracy and limits

The word and character counts are exact for how they are defined: words are whitespace-separated runs and characters are the text's length, with a second figure that strips all whitespace. If your idea of a word differs (say you don't want numbers counted), the total may not match yours.

Sentence and paragraph counts are rules of thumb. Sentences are found by end punctuation, so abbreviations, decimals or ellipses can throw the count off, and a title with no full stop registers as one sentence. Paragraphs are blocks separated by a blank line.

Reading and speaking times come from fixed paces (200 and 130 wpm). Real reading speed varies a lot with difficulty and reader, and speaking pace varies with style, so read the minutes as a ballpark.

Character counts use the text's length in code units, so most emoji and some accented characters can count as more than one. If a platform has a hard limit, check on that platform, since some count differently.

Real-world uses

When it fits, and when it doesn't

For a single platform's limit, check on that platform. To see which words appear most, use a word-frequency counter.

Tips and tricks

What we would do

Frequently asked questions

References

• How many words do we read per minute? Brysbaert meta-analysis (ScienceDirect)
• Average reading speed (WPM) by age and grade (ScholarWithin)

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