Word Counter
- words
- 0
- characters
- 0
Details
- Characters (no spaces)
- 0
- Sentences
- 0
- Paragraphs
- 0
- Reading time
- 0 sec
- Speaking time
- 0 sec
Top keywords
Words you use more than once appear here.
How to use the Word Counter
- Type in the box, or paste text from a document, email or web page.
- The word and character counts update instantly. Details and top keywords appear alongside.
- Use Copy stats to copy every count as plain text, or Clear to start again.
Examples
- “Free tools that just work.” is 5 words, 26 characters, 22 characters without spaces and 1 sentence.
- “It’s a well-known fact: 3.14 > 3.” is 6 words. “It’s”, “well-known” and “3.14” each count as one word, and the “>” sign is not a word.
- A 1,500-word article takes about 6 minutes 18 seconds to read and about 10 minutes 43 seconds to read aloud.
How the counts work
Words
A word is any run of characters between spaces or line breaks that contains at least one letter or digit. This matches how Microsoft Word and Google Docs count, so your total lines up with the editor you submit from. Hyphenated words, contractions, numbers, links and hashtags count as one word each. Punctuation on its own, such as a dash or an ampersand, is not counted. In Chinese and Japanese, which are written without spaces, each character counts as one word.
Characters
Characters are counted the way you see them, so an emoji, a flag or an accented letter counts as one, even when it is stored as several code points. Spaces and line breaks are included in the main count and left out of “characters (no spaces)”. Some platforms, such as X (Twitter) or SMS, have their own rules for emoji and links, so their totals can differ slightly.
Sentences and paragraphs
A sentence ends with a full stop, question mark, exclamation mark or ellipsis followed by a space or the end of the text. A line break also ends a sentence, so headings and list items count separately. Decimals like 3.14 don’t break a sentence, but abbreviations like “e.g.” can, so treat the sentence count as a close estimate. Each non-empty line counts as a paragraph, as it does in word processors.
Reading and speaking time
Reading time assumes 238 words per minute, the average silent reading speed for adults reading non-fiction in a 2019 review of 190 studies by Marc Brysbaert. Speaking time assumes 140 words per minute, a comfortable pace for a talk or presentation. Your own speed may be faster or slower.
Top keywords
The words you use most, ignoring capital letters and common words such as “the” and “and”, with their share of the total word count. Only words used more than once are listed. It is a quick way to spot repetition in your writing.
Frequently asked questions
Is my text uploaded or saved?
No. Counting happens in your browser with JavaScript. Your text is never sent to a server and is not stored, so it is gone when you close or reload the page.
Why is my count different from another tool?
Tools disagree mainly on hyphenated words, numbers and symbols. This counter treats any space-separated chunk containing a letter or digit as one word, which matches Microsoft Word and Google Docs. Tools that split on hyphens or ignore numbers will show different totals.
Are spaces counted as characters?
Yes in the main character count, and no in “characters (no spaces)”. Line breaks and tabs are treated as spaces. Many essay and form limits are based on characters including spaces, so check which one applies.
Is there a length limit?
There is no fixed limit. Long documents of 100,000 words or more work, though very large pastes may take a moment on older phones.
How long is a 1,000-word essay?
About 4 minutes 12 seconds to read silently and just over 7 minutes to read aloud. In a word processor with 12-point text and double spacing, that is roughly 4 pages.
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