Count words, characters, sentences and paragraphs as you type, and see reading and speaking time for essays, posts and speeches.
Essays, college applications, cover letters, social posts and SEO meta descriptions all have word or character limits. Paste your text into this word counter to see words, characters with and without spaces, sentences and paragraphs instantly, plus how long it takes to read silently or to say out loud.
How do I count the words in my text?
Paste or type your text into the box above. The word counter splits the text on spaces and line breaks and counts each group of letters or numbers as one word. A typical page of double-spaced text is about 250 to 300 words, and a 500-word essay takes about 2 minutes to read.
Common word count limits
| Writing | Typical length |
|---|---|
| Common App personal essay | Up to 650 words |
| Cover letter | 250 to 400 words |
| Blog post | 1,000 to 2,000 words |
| Meta description | About 150 to 160 characters |
| X (Twitter) post | 280 characters |
| Single-spaced page | About 500 words |
How reading and speaking time are estimated
Reading time uses an average silent reading speed of about 238 words per minute for adults reading non-fiction, and speaking time uses about 130 words per minute, a comfortable pace for presentations and speeches.
How to use the Word Counter
Paste or type your text
Click into the box and paste your essay, post or speech, or start typing.
Watch the counts update
Words, characters, sentences and paragraphs update live as you edit.
Check reading and speaking time
Use the reading and speaking time to plan essays, blog posts and talks.
How are hyphenated words, numbers and contractions counted?
A word counter decides where one word ends and the next begins, and different programs make slightly different choices. Most tools, including this one, treat any run of characters between spaces or line breaks as one word. That means a contraction such as “don’t” counts as one word, a hyphenated compound like “well-known” counts as one word, and a number such as “2,500” or “3.14” also counts as one word.
The formal rules for splitting text live in Unicode Standard Annex #29, published by the Unicode Consortium. It defines default word boundaries for every script, which matters for languages such as Chinese, Japanese and Thai that do not put spaces between words. For those languages a space based count will be far too low, so a character count is the more reliable measure.
Small differences also come from em dashes typed without spaces, slashes like “and/or”, and URLs. If an assignment or publisher sets a strict limit, check which program they use and count with the same rules.
How can I check how easy my text is to read?
Word and sentence counts are the raw inputs for most readability scores. The best known is the Flesch Reading Ease score, created by Rudolf Flesch in 1948. Its formula is 206.835 − 1.015 × (words ÷ sentences) − 84.6 × (syllables ÷ words). Scores run roughly from 0 to 100, and higher numbers mean easier text. Plain everyday writing usually lands between 60 and 70.
The Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level uses the same two ratios to estimate a US school grade: 0.39 × (words ÷ sentences) + 11.8 × (syllables ÷ words) − 15.59. J. Peter Kincaid developed it in 1975 for the United States Navy to check the readability of technical manuals.
- Long sentences raise the grade level, so splitting them is the fastest fix.
- Words with many syllables also push the score up; a syllable counter shows which words are heaviest.
- Use the average words per sentence from this counter as a quick health check; around 15 to 20 is easy to follow.
Frequently asked questions
How many words is a page?
About 500 words single-spaced or 250 to 300 words double-spaced in a 12 pt font.
Does the word counter count numbers?
Yes. Numbers and words with hyphens or apostrophes count as one word each.
How long does it take to read 1,000 words?
About 4 minutes of silent reading, or 7 to 8 minutes read aloud.
Do characters include spaces?
Both are shown. Many forms count characters with spaces, while some count without.
Is my text saved or uploaded?
No. Counting happens in your browser and your text never leaves your device.
Sources and further reading
- How many words do we read per minute?, Journal of Memory and Language (Brysbaert, 2019)
- Word count, Wikipedia
Related tools
Last reviewed: October 2026