Word Counter
Count the words, characters, sentences and paragraphs in any text: in your browser, nothing uploaded.
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Words
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Characters
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Sentences
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Paragraphs
This counts words, characters, sentences and paragraphs, and estimates reading time and page count.
Text is processed entirely in your browser and is never sent anywhere.
What a word count tells you
A word count is simple to produce and the two derived figures people want from it are not, because both depend on things the text itself does not contain.
Pages depend entirely on formatting. A double-spaced page in 12pt Times New Roman holds roughly 250 words, so 1,000 words is about four pages. Single-spaced it is closer to 500 words a page, so the same text becomes two. Any words-to-pages figure is an estimate tied to an assumed format.
Reading time has a firmer basis. Research on silent reading of English non-fiction puts the average around 238 words per minute, so 1,000 words takes about 4.2 minutes. Technical material runs slower and light fiction faster.
Pages depend on formatting and are always approximate. Reading time is more reliable, and speaking rate is slower than reading rate.
What to enter
- Your text
- Typed or pasted. It is processed in your browser and never transmitted.
- Reading speed
- 238 words per minute is a reasonable default for silent reading of non-fiction English.
- Page format
- Spacing, font and size, since these determine words per page more than anything else.
Common length limits
- Tweet / X post
- 280 characters, counting spaces.
- SMS
- 160 characters for a single message before it splits.
- Meta description
- About 155-160 characters before search engines truncate it.
- Common essay lengths
- 500, 1,000 and 2,500 words. Roughly 2, 4 and 10 double-spaced pages.
- Speaking rate
- About 130-150 words per minute, so a 10-minute talk is roughly 1,300-1,500 words.
What this assumes
Words are counted by whitespace separation. Hyphenated compounds count as one word, and that convention differs between tools.
Reading speed varies enormously with material and reader. Treat any reading-time figure as an estimate rather than a measurement.
How to calculate word and character counts
Counting is mechanical. The judgement is in the conventions and the estimates.
- 238
- A commonly cited average silent reading rate for non-fiction English
- 250
- Approximate words on a double-spaced 12pt page
Count words by whitespace. Split on spaces and line breaks. Note that tools differ on hyphenated words and numbers.
Count characters both ways. With and without spaces. Social platforms count spaces; some publishing limits do not.
Divide for reading time. 1,000 ÷ 238 = 4.2 minutes for silent reading. Use about 150 wpm for reading aloud.
Estimate pages against your actual format. Double-spaced 12pt holds about 250 words per page; single-spaced about 500. Check your own document rather than trusting a generic figure.
See a worked example: a 1,000-word piece
- Length
- 1,000 words
Silent reading: 1,000 ÷ 238 = 4.2 minutes.
Read aloud at 150 wpm: about 6.7 minutes, which matters for a presentation.
Double-spaced 12pt: about 4 pages. Single-spaced: about 2.
The gap between reading and speaking rate is why a talk written to a page count usually runs long.
About 4 pages and 4.2 minutes to read
Frequently asked questions
Yes. Counting happens entirely in your browser using JavaScript. Nothing is uploaded, logged or stored, and the page works with the network disconnected.
That is worth checking on any tool you paste a draft into. Some online editors do send text to a server.
About 4 pages double-spaced or 2 pages single-spaced, in 12pt Times New Roman with one-inch margins.
Font, size, spacing and margins all change it substantially. If a submission specifies pages, confirm the required format rather than trusting a generic conversion.
About 4.2 minutes silently, using a commonly cited average of 238 words per minute for non-fiction English.
Technical or unfamiliar material is considerably slower. Reading aloud runs at roughly 150 wpm, so the same text takes closer to 7 minutes spoken.
By whitespace separation: anything between spaces or line breaks counts as a word.
Conventions differ on edge cases. Hyphenated compounds usually count as one, numbers usually count as words, and different tools handle em dashes and contractions differently. Small discrepancies between tools are normal.
Different handling of edge cases: hyphenated words, numbers, text in footnotes, headers and text boxes, and whether tracked changes are included.
Differences are usually under 1%. If a submission has a hard limit, use the tool the recipient will use.
About 1,300-1,500 words, at a speaking rate of 130-150 words per minute.
Aim at the lower end. Almost everyone speaks faster when nervous, and pauses, questions and slide changes all consume time that a raw word count does not show.
Problems people actually run into
Writing to a page count without checking the format
"Four pages" is about 1,000 words double-spaced and about 2,000 single-spaced. The same requirement can mean twice the work.
Confirm spacing, font and margins before starting. Where a limit matters, a word count is a far less ambiguous specification than a page count.
Timing a talk by reading rate
Silent reading runs around 238 words per minute and speaking around 150. A script timed as reading will overrun badly.
Rehearse aloud with a timer. It is the only reliable way, and it also surfaces the sentences that do not work spoken.
Results are estimates for general information only and are not professional financial, medical, or legal advice. Read our full disclaimer.
Last updated: September 4, 2026