How to count words
Paste or type your text into the box above. The counts update live as you type — words, characters with and without spaces, sentences, paragraphs, reading time, and speaking time. Nothing is uploaded; your text never leaves your browser.
What gets counted, and how
Words are split on spaces and line breaks. Hyphenated words count as one word; numbers count as words. A sentence is counted when it ends with a period, exclamation mark, or question mark. A paragraph is a block of text separated by a blank line. These are the same rules most word processors use, so the counts here should match Microsoft Word or Google Docs within a word or two — small differences come from edge cases like ellipses and abbreviations.
Common uses
Essays and assignments usually have a word limit — “500 words” or “2,000 words” — and this counter tells you exactly where you stand. Social media and forms have character limits: a post, a bio, or a meta description that must fit in 160 characters. Speeches and scripts use the speaking-time estimate: at 130 words per minute, a 1,300-word talk runs about ten minutes. Reading time assumes 200 words per minute, the average for an adult reading English.
Characters with and without spaces
Two character counts are shown for a reason. Some limits count spaces — a tweet-style limit, for example — while others do not, such as many translation price quotes, which charge by character without spaces. Check which one your limit uses before you trim.
Tips for hitting a target
Over the limit? Cut filler words first — “very”, “really”, “in order to” — then look for sentences saying the same thing twice. Under the limit? Add an example or a counterpoint rather than padding with adjectives. And remember the most frequent words list: if one word dominates your text, a synonym will make it read better.