Word counter guide
How to count words online, and what the numbers mean
In short
This free word counter works online in any browser: type or paste your text into the box above and the word count updates as you write, along with characters (with and without spaces), sentences, paragraphs, reading time and speaking time. Everything is worked out in your browser, so your text isn't uploaded and you don't need an account. Contractions like "don't" and hyphenated words like "well-known" each count as one word.
- Reading time based on
- 200 words per minute
- Speaking time based on
- 130 words per minute
- Where your text goes
- Nowhere. It stays in your browser
- Cost and sign-up
- Free, no account
How to count words in your text
Click into the box and start typing, or paste text from Word, Google Docs, an email or a web page. Bold, links and other formatting are kept in the editor but don't change the count.
Read the totals in the panel beside the editor (above it on a phone). They change with every keystroke, so there's nothing to submit.
Need a limit? Open the Goal tab, pick at most, at least or exactly, and enter the number. The progress bar tells you how far over or under you are.
Open Vocabulary or Phrases to see which words and two- or three-word phrases you repeat most. Readability gives an English reading-ease score once there are at least 10 words.
What each number tells you
- Words
- Runs of letters or numbers. Contractions, hyphenated compounds, URLs and email addresses count once each.
- Characters
- Every letter, number, punctuation mark, space and line break. An emoji or an accented letter counts as one, the same way you'd count it by eye.
- Characters without spaces
- The same total with spaces, tabs and line breaks taken out. Punctuation still counts.
- Sentences
- Split at full stops, question marks and exclamation marks. A last sentence without punctuation still counts.
- Paragraphs
- Blocks of text separated by at least one empty line.
- Unique words
- How many different words you used. "The" and "the" are treated as the same word.
- Reading time
- Words divided by 200, a little under the average adult's silent reading pace.
- Speaking time
- Words divided by 130, a comfortable pace for a talk or presentation.
- Publisher words
- Characters including spaces divided by 6, sometimes called a standard word. Some publishers and translators still quote with it.
- Reading ease
- A Flesch reading-ease score from 0 to 100, where higher means easier to read. It's only shown for English text of 10 words or more.
What counts as a word?
There's no single official definition of a word, which is why two counters can give you two different totals for the same paragraph. These are the rules this counter follows. The numbers in the Words column come from the same code the editor uses, so they always match what you'd get by typing the example yourself.
| You type | Words | Why |
|---|---|---|
don't | 1 | A contraction stays one word. |
state-of-the-art | 1 | Words joined by hyphens stay together. |
word—word | 1 | A dash with no spaces around it joins, the same as a hyphen. |
and/or | 2 | A slash splits, so this is two words. |
1,000 | 1 | A number is a word, commas and all. |
https://example.com/pricing | 1 | A web address counts once, however long it is. |
The court . . . concluded | 3 | Dots and other lone punctuation never count. |
Great job 👏 | 2 | Emoji add characters but not words. |
Chinese, Japanese and Thai don't put spaces between words, so the counter uses your browser's built-in dictionary to find the word breaks. Different browsers can split the same sentence slightly differently. If you need a character count for these languages instead, the "Characters" figure is exact.
Reading time, speaking time and pages by word count
Use this table to turn a word count into time or pages without doing the sums. Reading time assumes 200 words per minute and speaking time 130, both rounded to the nearest half minute. Pages assume 250 words on a double-spaced page and 500 on a single-spaced one, which is roughly what you get with a 12-point font and one-inch margins.
| Words | Reading time | Speaking time | Pages, double-spaced | Pages, single-spaced |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 100 | 30 sec | 45 sec | under 1 | under 1 |
| 250 | 1.5 min | 2 min | 1 | under 1 |
| 300 | 1.5 min | 2.5 min | 1 | under 1 |
| 500 | 2.5 min | 4 min | 2 | 1 |
| 650 | 3.5 min | 5 min | 2.5 | 1.5 |
| 750 | 4 min | 6 min | 3 | 1.5 |
| 1,000 | 5 min | 7.5 min | 4 | 2 |
| 1,500 | 7.5 min | 11.5 min | 6 | 3 |
| 2,000 | 10 min | 15.5 min | 8 | 4 |
| 2,500 | 12.5 min | 19 min | 10 | 5 |
| 3,000 | 15 min | 23 min | 12 | 6 |
| 5,000 | 25 min | 38.5 min | 20 | 10 |
Why Word, Google Docs and this counter can disagree
If your total doesn't match the one in Word or Google Docs, it's usually one of these reasons rather than a mistake on either side.
- Some parts of the document were left out
Google Docs leaves headers, footers and footnotes out of its total. Word has a setting that adds text boxes, footnotes and endnotes. Pasting here counts only what you pasted.
- Spaced dots and symbols
Word counts anything between two spaces as a word, so an ellipsis typed as ". . ." adds three words there. Here it adds none.
- Slashes
A counter that only splits on spaces counts "and/or" or "input/output" as one word. This counter splits at the slash and counts two.
- Hidden text
Deleted text from tracked changes can still be counted in some document views, but it won't come across when you copy and paste.
When a teacher, journal or client names the program they'll check with, do your final count in that program. Use this one while you draft.
Essays, speeches and posts
If you're writing an essay with a hard limit, put the number in the Goal tab and it will tell you the moment you go over. The Common App personal essay, for example, stops at 650 words. It works the other way round for a presentation: at 130 words per minute, a 5-minute slot holds about 650 words, so you know roughly how much to cut.
When you're editing, the Vocabulary and Phrases tabs show the word or phrase you keep reaching for, and the reading time helps you size up an article before it goes out. If you price translation or copywriting by the word, or by the older publisher word, both totals are on the Overview tab.
For social posts, meta descriptions and anything else limited by characters rather than words, the Character Limit Checker is the better fit. It has the limits for each platform, including X's rule that most emoji and Chinese, Japanese and Korean characters count as two.
Your text stays on your device
The counting happens in your browser. Your text isn't sent to Words Calculator or anyone else, and you can check that yourself: open your browser's developer tools, go to the Network tab and type something. No request carries your words.
A copy of your draft is kept in the current tab so a reload doesn't wipe it, and it's gone once you close the tab. If you'd like it to survive a restart, tick “Remember this draft on this device” under the editor. It's still stored only on your device. The Share button sends only the numbers and a link to this page, never the text.
Common questions
How many pages is 1,000 words?
About 4 pages double-spaced or 2 pages single-spaced, using a 12-point font and one-inch margins. A larger font, wider margins or lots of headings will push it onto more pages.
Calculate pages for your own settingsHow long does it take to read 1,000 words?
About 5 minutes at 200 words per minute. A quick reader at 250 words per minute would take about 4 minutes. Reading the same text out loud takes closer to 7.5 minutes.
How many words is a 5-minute speech?
Around 650 words at 130 words per minute. Speakers who talk fast can fit 750, and a slower, more deliberate delivery might only get through 600. Rehearse it out loud with a timer once you're close.
Do hyphenated words count as one word?
Yes. "Well-known" and "state-of-the-art" count as one word each, the same as in Microsoft Word and Google Docs. A dash typed without spaces, as in "word—word", also joins the two words here.
Do numbers count as words?
Yes. "7", "2026" and "1,000" each count as one word. A decimal like "3.14" is one word too.
Does the word count include spaces?
No. Spaces separate words but are never counted as words. They do count as characters, which is why you'll see two character totals: one with spaces and one without.
Why is my word count different from Microsoft Word or Google Docs?
Usually because the programs include different parts of the file (headers, footnotes, text boxes) or split symbols differently. Word, for example, counts each spaced dot in an ellipsis as a word. If someone has told you which program they'll check with, use that for your final count.
Do the title and references count toward an essay's word count?
Usually not, but it depends on who set the essay. Most schools leave out the title, the reference list, footnotes and appendices, and many do count in-text citations. Check the assignment brief, then paste only the parts that count.
Is my text saved or uploaded anywhere?
No. The counting runs in your browser and the text isn't sent anywhere. A copy stays in the open tab so a reload doesn't lose it, and it's cleared when you close the tab.
Can I count the words in a PDF or Word file?
You can paste the text in here, or open the file in Document Word Counter. It reads PDF, Word, ODT, RTF, HTML and plain-text files up to 10 MB without uploading them, and shows you the extracted text so you can check what was counted.
Open Document Word CounterWhat's a good keyword density?
There isn't a number worth aiming for. Write for the reader, then use the Vocabulary tab to spot any word you've repeated so often that it starts to sound forced.
Is this online word counter free, and does it work on a phone?
It's free, there's no account, and it copes with long documents of up to 2 million characters. On a phone the editor and the results sit on two tabs so both stay readable.
What is a word calculator?
A word calculator is another name for a word counter: a tool that counts the words in a piece of text and works out related figures. Words Calculator also gives you characters, sentences, paragraphs, reading and speaking time, and how many pages the text fills.
How do I check the word count of an essay online?
Paste only the parts your teacher counts, usually the body without the title, references and appendices, into the box above. The word count shows at the top, and the paragraph count and reading time help you check the structure.
Sources
- How many words do we read per minute? A review and meta-analysis of reading rate (Brysbaert, 2019)Journal of Memory and Language
- Check word count in Google DocsGoogle Docs Editors Help
- Word count including text boxes, footnotes and endnotesMicrosoft Q&A
- Hyphens, ellipses, and word countsUniversity of Texas Legal Writing
- Common App essay promptsCommon App
- Counting charactersX Developer Platform