Word Counter
Live word, character, sentence, and paragraph counts, plus reading and speaking time estimates. Runs entirely in your browser.
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Words
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Characters
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Chars (no spaces)
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Sentences
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Paragraphs
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Min read
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Min to speak aloud
How to use the word counter
- Paste or type your text into the box, or click Load sample.
- Word count, character count, sentence count, paragraph count, and reading/speaking time all update live as you type.
Common uses
- ✓ Checking an essay or assignment against a word-count requirement
- ✓ Fitting a meta description or social post within a character limit
- ✓ Estimating how long a blog post will take readers to finish
- ✓ Timing a script, speech, or video voiceover before recording
FAQs
How is reading time calculated?
Reading time uses an average adult silent-reading speed of 200 words per minute, rounded up to the nearest minute (minimum 1 minute for any non-empty text). It's an estimate — actual reading speed varies a lot by content difficulty and reader.
How is speaking time different from reading time?
Speaking time assumes about 130 words per minute, a typical comfortable speaking pace, which is slower than silent reading. It's useful for estimating how long a script will take to read aloud — a video voiceover, a speech, or a podcast segment.
How are sentences and paragraphs counted?
Sentences are counted by splitting on ".", "!", and "?". Paragraphs are counted by blank lines (two consecutive line breaks). Like any simple text tool, this can misfire on abbreviations (e.g., "Dr. Smith") or decimal numbers (e.g., "3.14") that contain a period — treat these counts as a close estimate, not an exact linguistic analysis.
Why does "characters" differ from "characters without spaces"?
Many platforms with character limits — Twitter/X, SMS, meta descriptions — count every character including spaces. Others, like some essay or resume guidelines, specify a non-space character count. Both are shown so you can check against whichever limit applies.