Count words as you write
Essays have a word limit, a cover letter should fit on one page, a translation is often priced by the word, and a talk has to fit in its slot. Paste your text into the box, or write directly in it, and the counts update with every keystroke: words in large type, then characters, characters without spaces and sentences. The line below adds the number of paragraphs, the time it takes to read the text and the time it takes to say it out loud.
What is counted
- Words. The calculator uses your browser’s own word splitting for English. Contractions such as “it’s” or “isn’t” count as one word. Numbers count as words too. Hyphenated words such as “well-known” are split at the hyphen and count as two, as some word processors do, so expect small differences between tools on texts full of hyphens.
- Characters. Every letter, digit, space, punctuation mark and line break. A simple emoji counts as one character; combined ones, such as flags, can count as several.
- Characters without spaces. The same, minus spaces, tabs and line breaks. Some publishers and translation agencies use this figure.
- Sentences. Split where a sentence ends, at a period, question mark or exclamation mark. Abbreviations can occasionally be read as the end of a sentence.
- Paragraphs. Blocks of text separated by an empty line.
Reading and speaking time
Reading time is based on about 230 words a minute, a typical pace for silent reading of an ordinary text. Speaking time uses about 130 words a minute, a calm pace for a talk or a presentation. Both are rough guides: technical texts read more slowly, and some speakers go faster. A 1,000-word article takes about 4 minutes to read and about 8 minutes to say out loud; a 5-minute speech is around 650 words.
Who uses a word counter
- Students checking an essay or a personal statement against its limit, without counting the title or the references if they are not included: paste only the part that counts.
- Writers and bloggers keeping an article, a newsletter or a product description to a target length.
- Translators and their clients estimating a quote priced per word.
- Job seekers trimming a cover letter or a summary to fit a form.
- Speakers checking that a toast, a pitch or a podcast script fits the time they have.
- Social media posts and ad copy, where the limit is in characters. Each platform sets its own limits and changes them from time to time, so check the current one on the platform itself.
Trimming a text to fit
If you are over a limit, start with the longest sentences: the sentence count against the word count gives you the average sentence length. Cutting repeated words, filler phrases and long introductions usually saves more than shortening the conclusion. Keep the page open while you edit and the count updates with every change.
Your text stays on your device
The counting happens in your browser. Your text is never sent to a server, and Share only shares the counts, never the text itself. So that you do not lose your work, the text is kept in your browser’s storage on this device until you tap Clear; nobody else can see it. On a shared computer, tap Clear when you are done.
Handy details
Tap Paste in the bottom bar to bring in what you copied (your browser may ask for permission first), or use the usual paste shortcut. Copy result copies a one-line summary, such as “650 words, 3,612 characters…”, ready to paste into an email or a form. Clear empties the box. The page works on a phone too, handy for checking a text before you send it.
Working on a report? The average calculator handles grades and scores, the percentage calculator tells you how far over a limit you are, and the proportion calculator turns a word count into a price per word.